CREB® president was just one of many roles Don Dickson looks back on fondly

Don Dickson has held a variety of roles during his lengthy real estate career: Salesman, broker, business practices manager, and, in 2004, president of CREB®.

Through it all, his focus has remained the same.

"It's about helping members. That's been my number-one priority," Dickson said. "It's been a fabulous experience. You couldn't have a more fulfilling career. And I'm not done yet."

Clair J. Cote Jr. follows in father's historic footsteps by leading CREB® through 1974

When Clair J. Cote Jr. became CREB®'s president in 1974, Calgary was partway through a decade marked by unprecedented growth, both in business and real estate development.

The year prior, the Arab oil embargo set off the first global energy crisis, leading to efforts in Alberta to lessen the dependence on foreign oil. Calgary, where oil companies were headquartered, prospered.

For Cote, the 1970s stand out as a time in which his brokerage, which started in 1964, grew.

Former CREB® president Alan Tennant recalls 1998 as one with few challenges

Alan Tennant summarizes Calgary's resale residential housing market in 1998 in one word: stable.

"I recall doing monthly statistic releases throughout the year, and trying to find new ways to state 'stable,'" said Tennant, who was CREB®'s president that year. "I remember [the market] now more fondly than I did at the time. Back then, it seemed almost boring."

Former CREB® president Corinne Lyall focused on different drivers behind housing market in 2015

Corinne Lyall is all too familiar with many of the challenges currently facing homebuyers and sellers in Calgary. She served as CREB®'s president just last year when the economic downturn was arguably at its strongest, is currently past president on the board of directors for the real estate member organization and is broker at her own firm Royal Lepage Benchmark.

Yet her message today is the same as it was when she had the gavel in hand: real estate is personal.

Despite a challenging year, 1995 CREB® president Wayne McAlister chose to focus on the silver linings

A self-described "eternal optimist," Wayne McAlister still couldn't be blamed for looking back at 1995 with some degree of pessimism.

After all, as CREB®'s president that year, he oversaw Calgary's housing industry at a time when employment uncertainty had waned for years, resulting in weak consumer confidence and a painfully slow market.

"There was a downturn in the early '90s, with oil down – dramatically low – and the whole economy was feeling the pinch," he said. "(By 1995), we were still experiencing an economic downturn. There was some good, some bad that year."

President's tenure marked by arrival of MLXchange, rise in Internet usage 

When Rosalee Krygier took on the president's role at CREB® in 2003, the industry had just finished a record-breaking year.

Though the 2003 market didn't quite reach the frenetic pace of the year before, it was still a strong year.

"It was really balanced," Krygier said. "It was good, steady, not a controversial market."

Former CREB® president Marilyn Jones revelled in changing Calgary market

For much of her career, former CREB® president Marilyn Jones focused on helping clients from across Canada relocate to Calgary and find a house.

She liked the pressure – often times people had just a few days to look at houses in a new city, make a major decision and submit an offer – and was comfortable managing the many demands that needed to be juggled.

Those same skills came in handy when Jones became CREB® president in 2005.

Signs of economic hardship started to reveal themselves by the end of 2014, recalled then-CREB® president Bill Kirk 

While the true severity of the economic slump currently dominating headlines had yet to been felt in 2014, Bill Kirk said the writing was already on the wall by the end of his tenure as CREB® president.

Oil production in the Middle East had just started to ramp up, prices for a barrel had started to fall and jobs in Calgary were suddenly in question, he recalled.

"By the end of 2014, there was talk of an oil glut," said Kirk. "We knew there would be fallout ... (but) no one knew what would happen.

"We were all surprised at how slowly through 2015 the bad news hit."

Former CREB® president John Fraser recalled new sense of hope in 1990 after decade of challenges

A fresh start: that's how many viewed 1990, recalled then-CREB® president John Fraser.

"We had just come out of an extremely difficult period," he said, referencing a decade defined by the National Energy Program, soaring interest rates and growing unemployment in the province.

"In about the mid '80s, things started to improve. And by about 1990, if you can believe it, almost 10 years later, we were almost back to where we were in 1981 in terms of house prices."

Former CREB® president Kevin Clark recalls robust activity in 2006 created new set of challenges

To an outsider today, 2006 was an enviable year for real estate in Calgary. Nine to 10 offers on a house was commonplace, sales activity hit an all-time high with 26,975 transactions and prices skyrocketed year over year by more than 40 per cent to $336,408.

But for Kevin Clark, who was CREB® president that year, he doesn't long for those days.

Clark describes the market in 2006 as volatile. He recalls Calgary's housing industry that year as one overrun with inventory fluctuations that came with their own set of challenges.