REALTOR® NEWSREALTOR® NEWS
August 8, 2019
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Featured News

Using the updated Privacy Notice and Consent form

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An updated Privacy Notice and Consent form is now available on WEBForms. This form is a mandatory form that all REBGV members must use when dealing with their clients and unrepresented parties.

What’s new

The updated form makes it easier for REALTORS® to explain to consumers the primary ways their personal information will be collected and used.

It also specifies four secondary uses for personal information that the consumer can choose to opt out of:

2a) The Realtors to whom you are giving this consent (or their brokerage) may communicate with you in the future to determine whether you require additional real estate services.

2b) The Realtors to whom you are giving this consent (or their brokerage) may communicate with you to provide information about other products or services that may interest you.

2c) Other Realtors® may communicate with you to determine if you require additional real estate services.

2d) The boards, and other Realtors or their brokerage (and survey firms on their behalf) may communicate with you to participate in surveys.

These four secondary uses are not new. What’s new is that, rather than having the consumer strike through the wording of an optional purpose to deny consent, they’ll now initial the boxes beside each use they don’t want (i.e. “opt out” of that use).

What happens if a client wants to opt out of any of these secondary uses?

Regardless of whether a client opts out of any secondary uses or not, Realtors and their brokerages must keep a signed copy of the Privacy Notice and Consent form in the file for each transaction.

Where either, or both, of 2a and/or 2b are opted out of, you’ll need to ensure your brokerage keeps a record to ensure compliance with the clients’ request for privacy. Check with your Managing Broker for how this is done in your office.

A signed copy of the form only needs to be sent to the Board where either, or both, clauses 2c and/or 2d have been opted out of.

The Board must be notified of a seller’s opt-out of 2c in order to ensure that the listing is properly “Privacy Protected”, meaning that the listing information cannot be used by other members for solicitation purposes. Similarly, the Board must be notified of a consumer’s opt-out of 2d to ensure that the Board does not include that consumer in any future surveys. 

Please do not send the Board a copy of the signed form if both 2c and 2d are left blank (i.e. not initialed).

Resources

The BC Real Estate Association (BCREA) plans to send an email to all Realtors in BC on August 19 with a link to a video tutorial on using the updated form. Watch your inbox on August 19.

Questions?

Email Arnelle Starnaman, REBGV’s privacy officer, at astar@rebgv.org, or James Lindow, MLS®, at jlindow@rebgv.org.

 

Free Introduction to AUTOPROP for REALTORS® course now available

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Retrieving, aggregating, and analyzing real estate data from different sources into reports for your clients has always been challenging and time-consuming. Now that AUTOPROP is available to all members at no additional cost, you can quickly access the information you’ve always wanted to include in your comparative market analysis (CMA) but never had time to aggregate.

You can use AUTOPROP to:

  • find lot size, width and depth;
  • display zoning, rezoning, easement, school catchment, and development application information for properties; and
  • add data feeds from paid services that you subscribe to and that are integrated with AUTOPROP (e.g., myLTSA, Commercial Edge, Urban Analytics).

Our new three-hour interactive course, Introduction to AUTOPROP for REALTORS®, provides you with workflows to help you save time doing research while also allowing you to prepare relevant and effective property reports for your clients. You’ll learn how to incorporate personalized branding into AUTOPROP, create and adjust property reports, and compile property databases. You’ll also learn how to research land use planning and development/rezoning applications.

All members are entitled to one free offering of this new course. Visit our course catalogue for dates and to register online.

Seats are limited. A $25 no-show fee will be charged to any member who registers for this free course but does not attend.

Questions? Call us at 604-730-3087, or email education@rebgv.org.

Home sales increase in July

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Home buyer demand picked up across Metro Vancouver last month, making July, a traditionally quieter month in real estate, the second highest selling month so far this year.

The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV) reports that residential home sales in the region totalled 2,557 in July 2019, a 23.5 per cent increase from the 2,070 sales recorded in July 2018, and a 23.1 per cent increase from the 2,077 homes sold in June 2019.

Last month’s sales were 7.8 per cent below the 10-year July sales average.

“While home sale activity remains below long-term averages, we saw an increase in sales in July compared to the less active spring we experienced,” Ashley Smith, REBGV president said. “Those looking to buy today continue to benefit from low interest rates, increased selection, and reduced prices compared to the heated market a few years ago.”

There were 4,613 detached, attached and apartment properties newly listed for sale on the Multiple Listing Service® (MLS®) in Metro Vancouver in July 2019. This represents a 3.3 per cent decrease compared to the 4,770 homes listed in July 2018 and a 2.9 per cent decrease compared to June 2019 when 4,751 homes were listed.

The total number of homes currently listed for sale on the MLS® system in Metro Vancouver is 14,240, a 17.3 per cent increase compared to July 2018 (12,137) and a 4.9 per cent decrease compared to June 2019 (14,968).

For all property types, the sales-to-active listings ratio for July 2019 is 18 per cent. By property type, the ratio is 13.5 per cent for detached homes, 20 per cent for townhomes, and 22 per cent for apartments.

Generally, analysts say downward pressure on home prices occurs when the ratio dips below 12 per cent for a sustained period, while home prices often experience upward pressure when it surpasses 20 per cent over several months.

“To better understand conditions in your property type or neighbourhood of choice, it’s important to work with your local REALTOR®. They can help you develop a strategy to reach your long-term real estate goals,” Smith said.

The MLS® Home Price Index composite benchmark price for all residential properties in Metro Vancouver is currently $995,200. This represents a 9.4 per cent decrease over July 2018 and a 0.3 per cent decrease compared to June 2019.

Sales of detached homes in July 2019 reached 841, a 32 per cent increase from the 637 detached sales recorded in July 2018. The benchmark price for detached properties is $1,417,000. This represents a 10.5 per cent decrease from July 2018, and a 0.5 per cent decrease compared to June 2019.

Sales of apartment homes reached 1,243 in July 2019, a 15.2 per cent increase compared to the 1,079 sales in July 2018. The benchmark price of an apartment property is $653,200. This represents an 8.8 per cent decrease from July 2018, and a 0.2 per cent decrease compared to June 2019.

Attached home sales in July 2019 totalled 473, a 33.6 per cent increase compared to the 354 sales in July 2018. The benchmark price of an attached unit is $770,000. This represents a nine per cent decrease from July 2018, and a 0.6 per cent decrease compared to June 2019.

Ethics Guy® Top Tip - Accuracy of Information

 

The Ethics Guy®: Early offers, delayed offers

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Since November 1, 2018, members who've had sellers who wanted to wait a few days for offers to collect before reviewing them have used the Direction Regarding Presentation of Offers form, which enables them to “otherwise instruct” under Rules of Cooperation, Rule 4.02.

When this form was created, Rule 4.02 was amended to deal with the many “Hey, that place sold before the offer presentation day,” complaints we’d been receiving in the years prior.

Please take a look at the form here, then read on.

Remember, the form deals only with the issues of buyer agents attending the presentation of their offers and the date and time when all the offers are going to be reviewed. It doesn’t say, “Don’t tell the seller about an early offer if one comes in.”

The reason for this is because agents have a fiduciary duty to disclose all material information to their clients, and the existence of an offer is such a piece of information. It would be a rare seller who instructed their agent not to tell them if there is an offer to consider.

If a seller were to give instructions not to tell, I, for one, would certainly want them in writing, but I’m sure I'd have a hard time resisting the temptation to call my seller later if an early offer did come in. Such instructions may be similar to the peevish seller who says, “That’s my listing price, and I won’t take a penny less. I don’t want to see any offers unless they have my favourite numbers on them.”

Both these instructions are lawful, but they could put you in a difficult spot if the seller later says they wished they’d been given this information. Being under fire for not disclosing information—even with instructions not to—could put you in a tough spot. Go ahead if you want to accept instructions like this, but I wouldn’t want to be out on the limb with you.

Consider this scenario:

An offer presentation date and time has been set for six days from now using the Direction Regarding Presentation of Offers form, which has been signed by the sellers and is posted in your listing’s Associated Documents tab. There’s nothing on your Schedule A or anywhere else instructing you not to tell your clients if an early offer comes in.

The seller is hoping for multiple offers, with an auction on the day. A few buyers and their agents are waiting patiently for the presentation day, but one not-so-patient buyer instructs her agent to write an offer three days before the offer presentation date and puts a short fuse on it so that it expires before the presentation day.

You have interpreted the seller’s instructions to mean that you don’t need to tell them about any early offers coming in, so after a spirited conversation with the buyer agent who wants to have an early offer presentation, you tell him that there won’t be one, so he should go fishing while you go home to have a nap.  

The buyer, who'd hoped to get a jump on all the others, goes off in a huff when the early offer expires. When you check in with your client two days later, you discover they had learned of the early offer. They want to know how much it was for, and tell you they want to deal with it. Too late, you say—the buyer’s offer has expired.

The sellers then instruct you to call the buyer agent back to ask whether the early offer can be revived. You do that, only to learn that the buyers have already bought something else. Hearing this news, your sellers aren’t pleased because they weren’t given the opportunity to change their initial instructions so they could consider the early offer. (Note: Sellers can change their instructions by signing an updated Direction Regarding Presentation of Offers form. Rule 4.02 explains how to do this while reminding seller agents to notify everyone on their list of buyer agents “who have requested in writing to be kept informed about offers or possible changes the published offer presentation date and time.” Buyer agents: please don’t forget this!).

In this case, if the sellers were annoyed enough with how things transpired, they could make a complaint against you to Council. In that case, the Council would review the Direction Regarding Presentation of Offers form, noting its wording had not been altered. But if there were no other instructions elsewhere in the paperwork clearly stating not to notify your clients, would you be perp-walked into ignominy?

Who needs the grief? Tell your clients everything, no matter how small. It’s better to have the client annoyed that you told them too much than for them to complain you didn’t tell them enough.

Affordability solutions, Vancouver’s growth plan, and REALTORS® in the federal election

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The affordability solution – what we learned from other cities

Cities across the lower mainland are experiencing similar problems including a lack of affordable market housing and low rental vacancy rates. We looked at solutions to these problems from cities as diverse as Kelowna and Seattle.

Read more.

Have your say about how Vancouver grows

In September 2019, for the first-time in 20 years, Vancouver will begin a city-wide planning process and wants to hear your ideas as it develops a blueprint for growth. Here’s how you can participate.

Read more.

REALTORS® running in the federal election

The federal election is Monday, October 21, 2019. If you’re running or you know a Realtor colleague who is running for MP in Greater Vancouver, please let us know.

Read more.

Changes to PDP coming in 2020: What you need to know

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Together with the BC Real Estate Association (BCREA), the real estate boards around the province have developed a new framework for the professional development program (PDP) that’ll take effect on January 1, 2020.

What's changing?

Under the new framework, you’d be required to complete 18 professional development hours in your two-year licensing cycle rather than 18 PDP credits.

You’ll complete 12 of these hours through PDP-accredited courses. The remaining six hours will be accumulated through either additional PDP-accredited courses or through ‘self-directed’ development hours.

What is self-directed learning?

The concept of self-directed learning is intended to give you more flexibility and choice in your professional education. It's used in other professions, like accounting.

Some self-directed learning possibilities could include in-brokerage learning, conferences or professional learning outside organized real estate. This means you'll be able to get credit for some of the learning you already do.

What about Legal Update and other courses I need to take to re-license with Council?

Education needed to re-license with the Real Estate Council of BC (RECBC), such as Legal Update, will no longer be PDP accredited under this model. This is due, in large part, to RECBC’s recent moves to separate its relicensing education program (REP) from PDP.

Council will likely continue to require you to take Legal Update as well as other courses within your two-year licensing cycle.

If I’m in the middle of my licensing cycle on January 1, 2020, what will happen to my credits?

To help ensure a smooth transition, any PDP credits you’ve earned as of December 31, 2019, will be directly converted to accredited hours under the new framework.

How can I learn more about these changes?

For more information about the new PDP requirements in 2020 visit:

PDP 2020 Education Requirements and the PDP 2020 FAQs

If you have any further questions, email us at education@rebgv.org.

We’ll communicate much about the changing PDP model in the weeks and months ahead.

Other News

Share your origin story and win an exclusive overnight bag!

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We’ve shared our origin story, now its time for you to share yours. To help celebrate our 100 years of service, we want you to share on social media how you started in the real estate profession. When you do, you’ll be entered to win one of these exclusive REBGV 100 overnight bags.

How to enter

Go on your social media channel of choice and share your story. Tag us and use the hashtag #rebgv100 and you’ll be entered in a draw to win one of five bags.

The draw is on August 23, so make sure to share your story by then – good luck!

Visit us on:

New discipline decisions available

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Stay on top of the work your Board does to uphold and enforce professional standards within the profession and resolve disputes between members.

Our Professional Conduct Committee (PCC) investigates alleged member breaches of the REALTOR® Code and our Rules of Cooperation. Click here to review the PCC’s latest ruling (C18-19).

Next phase of REALTOR® advertising campaign on now

Our second round of video ads for our REALTOR advertising campaign are appearing online, on on-demand services, and across major television networks until the end of September.

You’ll see these advertisements on:

  • Global TV
  • YouTube
  • CTV
  • CBC
  • Sportsnet
  • City TV
  • Omni Television
  • And more

The ad also appears in on-demand programming from the stations mentioned above as well as on connected TV systems like Apple TV and Roku.

Our bus-back, online, and social media ads are still running alongside these video ads.

In May we released an update on the reach of the campaign to-date. We’ll provide more information on the reach and effectiveness of the campaign later this year.

What’s next?

Online banner ads will continue through to the end of 2019. We’re also running Ask an Expert and Open House editorial segments on Global alongside a branded online article on Global and ethnic websites.

Click here to learn more about the strategy behind the campaign.

Real Estate Foundation awards $5.3 million in grants in 2018–19

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Last year, the Real Estate Foundation of BC provided over $5 million in grants to support research, education, and policy analysis across the province. Your Board was one of the recipients of a grant in 2018. You can read more about it in the Foundation’s 2018-19 annual report.

These grants are funded by the Foundation collecting the small amounts of interest that accrue from deposits from real estate transactions held in pooled brokerage trust accounts. Since 1988, the Foundation has given more than $90 million in grants to non-profit organizations that are working to strengthen BC communities, protect land and water, and support real estate education.

Let's celebrate REALTORS®' charitable work!

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Let’s celebrate REALTORS®’ charitable work!

Each year, we ask you how much you contributed to charity so we can celebrate the charitable spirit in our profession. In 2017, it was $3 million for an overall total of $46.4 million!*

How much did you give 2018?

We need your help again this year to total the amount. Here’s what you can do:

Email the charities’ names and the amount you donated or fundraised to Fiona at fyouatt@rebgv.org, or send in your 2018 charitable contributions form.

Ask your colleagues to send in their information too.

Your privacy matters

We keep your information confidential. We’ll only promote aggregate information to the public. No personally identifiable information will be released.

 


*This total includes an REBGV member’s one-time donation of $21.4 million. Click here for more information about this donation.

Help the BC Lung Association understand radon issues

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The BC Lung Association is looking for input from REALTORS® on radon. If you’ve been involved in a transaction where radon was an issue with a property, click here to complete a short survey. Finish the survey and you’ll be entered in a draw for a new iPad!

Click here to learn more about BC Lung and the radon survey.

ICYMI: 100 years of memories: Building a home for REBGV

   

New Paragon notification

Paragon’s next update will include the ability to notify you if your session is about to time out. To activate this feature, you’ll need to click “allow” on a pop-up window that asks if you’d like to allow Paragon to show you notifications when you log in after August 13

   

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