Vote today in our Board of Directors election!

Our 2020 Board of Directors election is underway. Voting is open until 11:59 p.m. on Sunday, February 2.

This year, 10 members are running to fill five seats. You can read about the candidates and cast your votes here. Voting only takes a few minutes.

Have your say in who governs your professional association. Vote today!

Recommended candidates explained

The Board Development Committee (BDC) recommends candidates for the REBGV election. The BDC’s mandate is to guide a year-round process to ensure there are candidates with the necessary competence, character and commitment to choose from in each election.

• Review a list of commonly asked questions about the BDC and the candidate recommendation process.
• Watch a two-part video series with BDC members answering questions about candidate recommendations.
• Review an infographic that details the work of the BDC.

CREA extends read-only access to the old WEBForms through January

The Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) has extended members' access to the read-only version of the old WEBForms through the month of January. 

While this extension gives you more time to move your transaction kits (old contracts) over to the new WEBForms, you'll still need to use the new platform for any new transactions. 

We encourage you to invest the necessary time you need to learn the new WEBForms as soon as possible. We've created several resources to help you with this change. 

Eight steps to working with WEBForms

This video series takes you through the key elements of our WEBForms course:

• Accessing CREA WEBForms 2019 (PDF | Video)
• Navigating CREA WEBForms 2019 (PDF | Video)
• Creating templates in CREA WEBForms 2019 (PDF | Video - Sales template; Video - Listing template)
• Creating transactions from templates in CREA WEBForms 2019 (PDF | Video - Sales transaction; Video - Listing transaction)
• Working with clauses in CREA WEBForms 2019 (PDF | Video)
• Customizing CREA WEBForms 2019 (PDF | Video)
• Standalone forms in CREA WEBForms 2019 (PDF | Video)
• Migrating your transaction kits to CREA WEBForms 2019 (PDF | Video)

WEBForms webinars

• Creating a Transaction
• Adding Clauses to a Form

WEBForms manuals

• Read our step-by-step training manual to learn how to use the new system.
• Find forms by category and by the organization responsible in our directory of the forms. 
• Learn how to update out-of-date forms in your templates by reading this guide.

WEBForms course

• Register for a date and time that works for you.

Other resources

• Our Transition Guide has everything you need to move from the old WEBForms to the new system.
• CREA’s resource page has more information, guides, and how-to videos to help you learn the new system.

Extended Help Desk hours

We’re extending our Help Desk hours in January to help you make this change. Our team will be available:

• Weekdays: 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
• Weekends: 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

You can contact our Help Desk at 604-730-3020 or support@rebgv.org.

CREA's Help Desk is available:

• Weekdays: 5 a.m. to 9 p.m.
• Weekends: 5 a.m. to 7 p.m.

You can contact CREA's Help Desk at 1-888-237-7945 or support@crea.ca. 

Reporting issues

Since the launch of the new WEBForms, members have identified a few bugs and other issues with the system.

While this is a CREA initiative, our focus is on getting you the information and resources you need to minimize the impact of this change. We’re documenting every bug and issue you send us and sharing that feedback with both CREA and Lone Wolf, the company that created the new WEBForms platform.

Please continue to report issues you encounter to both CREA (support@crea.ca) and our Help Desk (support@rebgv.org). You can also call our Help Desk with other WEBForms questions at 604-730-3020.

Register for Council’s new mandatory course now and save $75

Register for Anti-Money Laundering in Real Estate, the Real Estate Council of BC’s new mandatory course, before March 31, and you’ll pay $25.

After March 31 the fee increases to $50, and after July it increases to $100.

If you’re renewing your license after April 1, you’re required to complete this course every two years to maintain your licence.

The self-paced, online course will help you identify red flags for money laundering and will outline the steps to take to report suspicious transactions.

You should allow three to five hours to complete the course, and you must finish it within three days of registering. Because this is a required course from Council, it’s not PDP accredited.

To find out more, read Council’s course description. You can register for the course here.

The Ethics Guy®: Was the juice worth the squeeze?

I’m always on the lookout for good quotes. They help me come up with ideas for my column.

It wasn’t until I’d been writing for a few years that I discovered I had things backwards. Apparently, a columnist should start with an idea and develop copy in support of the idea. After that, if the copy makes any sense, the title should suggest itself.

But that’s never worked for me, probably because I’m too impatient. It’s easier to take a riff off an eye-catching quote and then use it as a jumping-off point for a column. However, not being particularly woke, I don’t find interest-grabbing quotes often coming my way.

If you want a Churchillian quotation or one from an 18th-century thinker or aristocrat, I’m your man. But more modern quotations, like the one I’ve chosen for this column title, don’t often offer themselves up to me. Maybe I should start visiting BuzzFeed or something similar to get more tuned in this year.

Asking whether the juice is worth the squeeze could be applied to so many things in life. Other sayings bring the same sentiment to mind: Choose your battles. Is this a hill you want to fight and die on? Is it worth it? Look before you leap.

All of these remind us of the benefit of considering our actions before taking them. Unfortunately, this is easier said than done for most of us, I think.

Those little black clouds that take the form of disagreements, contractual disputes, complaints, and the occasional legal action that come our way probably stem from not thinking enough beforehand. They also probably come from not evaluating whether the reward is worth the effort—whether the juice was worth the squeeze.

Our errors and omissions insurance lawyers have told me they wish we’d carefully consider the client risk–reward ratio more often before taking on anyone who can fog up a mirror. So with that in mind, here are 10 scenarios we could all think more about before pressing the start button:

1. Dealing directly with unrepresented parties who are interested in your listing. Your regulator won’t necessarily light its hair on fire if you do, as long as you don’t end up in an implied agency relationship with an unrepresented buyer. Putting yourself into a potential breach of agency and a conflict of interest is risky. Yes, we’re hard-wired to be helpful, but beware of crossing a red agency line.
2. Dealing with a former client from long ago with whom you’ve had little contact since. Can you turn them into an unrepresented buyer? Sure, but is that a good idea? No. This is a relationship with a large helping of legal and regulator risk. Don’t be tempted.
3. Speaking or writing with your inner voice. We’re expected to be truthful, to a point. Diplomacy will yield a better result than what could happen if you say precisely what’s on your mind to a colleague. Is the potential pleasure of having an “I’m right, you’re wrong,” or “Take that, you imbecile” conversation worth it? Very likely not.
4. Participating in a so-called closed forum online. Building on the previous scenario, always be careful what you say. The transitory pleasure realized from a salty comment passes quickly. The resulting complaint can bedevil you for much longer.
5. Accepting listing property information without question and then not checking it. It’s true that sellers’ REALTORS® are obligated to provide accurate information to the Board. But that obligation doesn’t relieve buyers’ Realtors from the obligation of double-checking the information.
6. Saving time and money by not ordering strata documents at the time of taking the listing. Rule 6.04 requires they be ordered when the listing is taken. Money isn’t necessarily saved anyway, since the documents have to be obtained eventually, so you’re just left with saving a bit of time. On the other hand, having the documents on hand for buyers’ Realtors—that’s a better investment and definitely worth the effort.
7. Assuming nothing will ever go wrong. Neglecting to “paper one’s file” may save you time in the short term. After all, it takes discipline and time to create a quality file, but having those documents on hand—such as those confirming client instructions received and advice you have given to clients—will pay dividends. If you end up in court or in front of Council, having a file stuffed full of good information can make the difference between a positive result and a terrible one (for you). Not creating a file may save you time today, but that time (and more) will be quickly used up if there’s a problem later that can’t be resolved without a useful document or text thread you’ve kept on file.
8. Underestimating relationship-building. Developing good relationships doesn’t happen overnight, and it may be tempting to ignore interpersonal relationships when you’re looking for the next hot deal. But time spent with other Realtors is well worth the effort because the result can be so beneficial. It’s great to do business with colleagues with whom you have good relationships.
9. Communicating with clients only when there’s big news to share. Even though it takes time to provide clients with regular updates, especially when there isn’t much new to say, is well worth it. Your clients will appreciate the contact, and they’ll reward you with future business and referrals if you stay in touch.
10. Setting the bar too high. Overpromising and underdelivering will make your career harder than it needs to be. Manage expectations by letting your clients and colleagues know what you’re reasonably able to do, and then, if you can, do more.

I can’t resist ending with the adage: When life gives you lemons, make lemonade. Making a bad situation better by turning it into something more palatable is the optimist’s way of doing business. Try it; then evaluate whether the result is worth the effort. That makes for a good new year’s resolution.

Deadlines for tax declarations and what to expect in real estate in 2020

Vancouver Empty Homes Tax declaration due February 4

If you have clients who own property in Vancouver, remind them that the Vancouver Empty Homes Tax declaration deadline is February 4. They must declare whether they’ve lived in their home, rented it, or left it empty by this date to avoid paying the tax.

Read more.

Speculation and Vacancy Tax declaration due March 31

Residential property owners in most Metro Vancouver municipalities must complete their annual Speculation and Vacancy Tax declaration by March 31.

Read more.

Ten predictions for Metro Vancouver real estate in 2020

The BC economy and the number of home buyers is expected to grow in 2020. Find out what else BCREA’s chief economist is forecasting.  

Read more.

Get MLS® data on the go with HomeSpotter

More than 6,000 members are using our HomeSpotter MLS® app – are you one of them?

As an REBGV member, HomeSpotter is available to you at no extra cost in the Apple App and Google Play stores.

HomeSpotter delivers access to your saved searches, contacts, and listing carts from any mobile device. You can upload new photos to a listing and, if you have Agent Modify privileges, you can edit remarks in your active listings. You can also perform common MLS® tasks such as searches and scheduling appointments via Touchbase.

A key HomeSpotter feature is the ability to create a mobile portal to communicate listings with your clients and send them messages. The app also works with SentriLock’s SentriSmart app to deliver listing information about a property when you open a lockbox.

Once you’ve downloaded the app, check out one of HomeSpotter’s free tutorial webinars to learn more about how it works. If you have questions, call the Help Desk at 604-730-3020.