Member Update June 5, 2020

Watch our new #DifferentTogether anti-racism video message 

REBGV recently joined BC Lieutenant Governor Janet Austin’s anti-racism campaign by taking the #DifferentTogether pledge.

In the video below, REBGV Chair Colette Gerber discusses our participation in the campaign and encourages you to take the pledge.

Supporting this campaign means standing against racism and hate and promoting respect and opportunity for people from all backgrounds in BC.

Click here to learn more about the campaign and how you can participate.

Feature more multimedia links in your listings

Did you know there are two additional fields in Paragon you can use to include videos and other multimedia links in your listings?

The fields are called ‘Property Brochure’ and ‘Alternate Feature Sheet’ and can be found in the Marketing section of Paragon (the same place you enter REALTOR® and Public comments to your listing).

You can enter multimedia links (i.e. YouTube or Matterport videos) in both of these fields. These links will flow through to Realtor.ca, giving you two more ways to promote your listings to the public.

Contact Help Desk at 604-730-3020 if you need assistance with these fields.

Update on recent Touchbase and SentriLock issues

We’re working with our suppliers to resolve the issues members have recently experienced with Touchbase and SentriLock. Here’s an update.

Touchbase

In April, we began hearing that some of you weren’t receiving all of your Touchbase messages. At the time, Touchbase told us the issues were caused by anti-spam rules that mobile providers had implemented.  

Touchbase has made progress to resolve the issue. For example, members using Telus should now receive all of their Touchbase messages. Other carriers, like Rogers and Fido, are still affected. Touchbase is aware and is working to resolve them with those companies.

Regardless of your carrier, you can view your messages from the Touchbase SM2 app, which you can find in the Google Play and Apple App stores. Once you have the app, you can configure it to turn on mobile notifications to make sure you’re alerted whenever a new Touchbase message arrives.

Click here to learn more about the SM2 app.

SentriLock

Some members with older SentriLock lockboxes are reporting difficulties opening their lockbox when using the SentriKey app. SentriLock is working to resolve this issue within the next few weeks. 

This issue only affects older lockboxes (the blue ones, not the grey ones).

To work around this issue, always carry your Smartcard with you. You can always open a lockbox using your Smartcard. If you don’t have a Smartcard, try turning Bluetooth off on your phone before trying to connect to an older lockbox.

If you’re experiencing this issue, SentriLock can help. Call them at 1-877-736-8745.

CMHC tightens lending standards, making homes less affordable

Effective July 1, 2020, first-time buyers will find buying a home more difficult if they want mortgage insurance through the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC)

CMHC is tightening lending standards to:

• limit the Gross/Total Debt Servicing (GDS/TDS) ratios to 35 per cent and 42 per cent; 
• require a minimum credit score of 680 for at least one borrower; and
• no longer treat non-traditional sources of down payment that increase indebtedness as equity for insurance purposes

To further manage risk to CMHC’s insurance business, and taxpayers, CMHC has also suspended refinancing for multi-unit mortgage insurance except when the funds are used for repairs or reinvestment in housing. 

CMHC changed its underwriting policies because, “COVID-19 has exposed long-standing vulnerabilities in our financial markets, and we must act now to protect the economic futures of Canadians,” Evan Siddall, CMHC’s President and CEO said. 

The Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) believes these changes will make housing less affordable for first-time buyers who may be sidelined, trying to save a larger down payment. 

CREA has and will continue to advocate on behalf of home buyers, property owners and communities to promote policies supporting a vibrant and sustainable housing sector.

Read more from CMHC.

Read CREA’s announcement.

REBGV continues to recommend no physical open houses

As another weekend approaches, we’d like to remind you that your Board, along with the Real Estate Council and other boards around BC, continue to strongly recommend that you not hold physical open houses. This recommendation is based on guidance from provincial health officials.

We’re hearing from some members who want us to relax our position on this topic. We’ve also heard that some members are holding open houses despite our recommendation.

REBGV Chair Colette Gerber recently shared a video message with members that explains the reasoning behind our current position in more detail. Watch it below.

Government and other public health experts continue to advise our profession to abstain from physical open houses. We’ll let you know when this advice changes.