FVREB and REBGV agree to explore potential amalgamation

The boards of directors of the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV) and Fraser Valley Real Estate Board (FVREB) have formed a Joint Collaboration Steering Group to explore the viability of a potential amalgamation between the two organizations. 

Through this initiative, the group will evaluate whether streamlined operations, pooled resources, and consistent REALTOR® rules, tools, and services across board boundaries will be beneficial to you.

Your input will be fundamental to this process. We need to hear from you. What benefits do you see? What concerns do you have? What questions do you need us to answer so that you are ultimately prepared to make an educated vote at a member meeting?

This will be an open process with numerous opportunities for you to be heard and to get the information you need. We’ll hold member meetings, host forums, conduct surveys and provide other engagement opportunities for you as this process unfolds. Over the next year or more, much of that engagement will, of necessity, be online.

While we’ve held amalgamation discussions a number of times over the decades, the leadership at both boards believe now is the time to act. Like many other industries, ours is vulnerable to disruption. We need to continually explore solutions that make us more agile, efficient, and innovative.

Though we were amongst the first boards in North America to talk about amalgamating, many others have gotten there ahead of us. In recent years, real estate boards have amalgamated in Québec, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, Saskatchewan, and Ontario. There are numerous examples in the United States of real estate boards and MLSes merging to create more innovative professional organizations to better serve Realtors and Brokers. In BC, the Okanagan Mainline and South Okanagan real estate boards also recently announced plans to explore an amalgamation. 

For more information, click here to read this FAQ about this new initiative. If you have questions or comments to share, please email us at communications@rebgv.org.

Nothing is set in stone. We enter this process with goodwill, open minds, a collaborative approach, and a desire to put our Realtor community in the best position to thrive over the long term. We look forward to engaging with you and sharing our progress in the months ahead.

New enhancements to WEBForms's clause manager and more

The Canadian Real Estate Association’s WEBForms Working Group (WWG) made enhancements this month to improve the usability and functionality of the clause manager in WEBForms. Here are the details:

• You can now include indents, bullet points, and numbering in your clauses using the clause editor. You can also include date and/or time pickers in your clauses.
• When searching for clauses, the search will now include the body of the clause as well as the title.

Other recent WEBForms enhancements include:

• The “exit” function has been renamed “save and exit”.
• When importing new MLS® listing data into a new transaction, you’ll now get a prompt to remove the existing listing and selling agent information.
• A bug in editable PDF forms has been fixed—checked check boxes will now remain checked when you save the PDF.

The WWG will next meet on October 28 to discuss further enhancements and fixes for WEBForms. Look for an update in November.

Old WEBForms shutting down in December

The old version of WEBForms (WEBForms Legacy) will be retired on December 17. Since last December, the old WEBForms has been in a read-only state and you’ve only been able to download PDFs of your past contracts. If you have old contracts you want to save, please do so before December 17.

Questions? Contact our Help Desk at support@rebgv.org or CREA at support@crea.ca.

ICYMI: Are you ready to run?

Preparations are underway for REBGV’s 2021 election. Our Board Development Committee (BDC) is looking for candidates with the attributes to strengthen and diversify the talent around the Board of Directors’ table. 

Each year, the Board of Directors appoints the BDC to guide the process of identifying and recommending candidates for election.

This is a year-round process that begins with determining the skills and experience needed at the table. The BDC reviews a skills matrix that identifies the benchmark strengths at the current board table and a summary of the Board of Directors’ last peer review process. The team also meets with REBGV’s elected Officers to gain further insight as to the competencies the Board of Directors believes it needs for the near future.

“The Board Development Committee follows robust processes to identify the most qualified and experienced people to help govern REBGV,” says Randy Ryalls, BDC Chair and General Manager at Royal Lepage Sterling Realty in Port Moody. “The purpose of this work is to ensure that our association has a strong Board of Directors year in and out. A strong Board of Directors means more effective leadership and better decisions, which we all benefit from as members.” 

This year, candidates with the following experience, knowledge, and characteristics have been prioritized:

• Knowledge of succession planning as REBGV’s CEO and other managers will retire in the next few years.  
• Financial acumen.
• Members who are either managing brokers or practice commercial real estate.
• A balance of female and male directors who come from diverse ethnic backgrounds and cultures.
• Diversity of thought and high emotional intelligence which is a characteristic necessary for the teamwork that helps the directorate innovate and responsibly lead our organization.
• A service-first attitude where the desire to serve on the Board isn’t driven by self-interest.

Does this sound like you? If so, our Board Development Committee wants to hear from you. 

You can reach out to any of our BDC members:

• Randy Ryalls, Chair, randy@psr.ca 
• Jack Bernard, jbernard@rennie.com 
• Lynn Dequanne, lynndequanne@shaw.ca 
• Carsten Love, loverealty@shaw.ca 
• Tina Mak, tinamak@tinamak.com 
• Ashley Smith, ashley@vancouveravenue.ca 
• Terri Smith, terrismithremax@gmail.com 
• Michael Uy, michael.t.uy@gmail.com 
• Doug Williams, doug@realtordoug.ca 

The application deadline for next year’s election is November 15. 

Learn more about the work directors do and the process of running in REBGV’s election here.

Video update from Randy Ryalls

BDC Chair Randy Ryalls provides an update on the BDC's work below.

Earn PDP credits with our business etiquette audio book course

Business etiquette issues are one of the most common peer-to-peer complaints we hear. These issues can damage reputations and erode trust among clients and peers. Understanding where these issues stem from can enhance your real estate practice.

Ethics Guy® Kim Spencer has created an audio book course, Business Etiquette for REALTORS®, covering the “Do’s and Don’ts” of real estate etiquette that qualifies for a self-directed PDP hour. 

In this 60-minute audio course, Kim surfaces best-practices that'll help with conflict resolution, customer service, and more. The content is organized into modules that can be completed at your own pace. 

The book also includes interviews with successful Realtors and experts, including: 

• Phil Moore, former REBGV Chair  
• Sandra Wyant, former REBGV Chair 
• Tom Everett, long-time Realtor 
• Ashley Smith, REBGV past-Chair 
• Craig Munn, Director of Communication, REBGV 
• Richard Collins, real estate trainer and former Managing Broker 
• Paul Penner, real estate trainer and former President of FVREB 
• Christian Butzek, Realtor and educator 

Click here to register. 

Questions? Contact the Education department at education@rebgv.org or call 604-730-3087. 

Staying positive

Sometimes members send funny memes, which are a welcome diversion from all the things that divert us.

Sometimes these memes are a little off-colour, which I hesitate to admit is something I can still enjoy - another diversion from trying to be good and do good on your behalf.

Sometimes the memes are political. These, I really enjoy, even the ones poking fun at all the leaders we’ve come to know. I’m a big fan of Jim Unger, the cartoonist of Herman fame. His humour, overlaid with a sardonic twist, always gets a thumbs up from me. A recent meme really gave me a chuckle. I think it would amuse anyone regardless of their political stripe. Picture this: Joe Biden and Barack Obama in close conversation. Obama is saying, “We should send him (you know who) a card.” Biden, looking thoughtful, says, “Can we write in it, ‘Stay Positive’?”

This reminds me how important it is to stay positive in a non-virus sort of way. In a recent column “Death by a thousand cuts,” I wrote about our reputation and how everything we do affects it.

Looking for positivity in our domain, I wonder if you know how much the Board’s public image campaign, which includes on-line, print, television and radio advertising, has had a positive effect on our collective image?

When we began the campaign in 2018, our baseline measurement told us that 44 per cent of Metro Vancouver residents held a positive view of REALTORS®. After the first full year of our campaign, that number went up to 56 per cent, a notable success. A 12 per cent increase may not sound like much, but a number like this constitutes a sizable change in the survey world. When the virus has run its course and there’s some space in public discourse for us to say more without getting lost in all the white noise of elections and virus infection counts, we’ll give the campaign another whirl with some new content hopefully, raising our approval numbers higher still.

What else is positive out there?

Our current market, despite a lot of negative commentary, has been surprisingly good. A broker recently told me he’d just had the best September in five years. That’s saying something.

And, as I’ve been mentioning, we have some new updated standard forms to help us put deals together and reduce our liability risk at the same time. And a Canadian Real Estate Association task force is heavily engaged in tuning up its WEBForms supplier to get us closer to a better experience when using it.

Something completely unexpected, at least to me, is our current member count. As I write this in early October, we have 13,697 members. To be honest, in the depths of our gloomy spring I thought we were going to lose at least a couple of thousand of our colleagues. Another positive development, and one I am very glad to have been wrong about.

We’re also closer to getting a vaccine now than we were last March. Assuming it gives us the immunity that comes with widespread vaccination, we’re closer to getting through this thing than we were six months ago. Heaven forbid, should any of us test positive, our doctors and nurses are much more adept at dealing with the virus than they were earlier this year. Wouldn’t it be grand to consider going out on a whim without having to worry about wearing a mask? It would be even grander not to have to jump through all the esteemed Dr. Henry’s hoops to do a showing. Instead of worrying about giving or receiving a virus we can’t see, we could focus on getting a property listed or sold. What a positive joy that will be; all we have to do is to wait a bit longer.

Staying positive, I’d say we’re a lot more proficient at doing our business in a pandemic than we were six months ago, wouldn’t you?

We’ve innovated by changing our practices, so we can continue to help our clients and customers buy and sell real estate. At the same time, we’ve put food on our tables. Something I thought was going to be in short supply last spring.

Staying positive is tough if you read the news. So, maybe, give that a rest for a while. Clients and customers still need to buy and sell real estate. Whatever the market, they need us to help them. Focus on this and look on the bright side. There’s good in everything we encounter; it’s just a question of perspective.

Finishing up with another positive development, read the Top Tip below to learn more about a new liability insurance product for brokers.

If there’s been a positive development I’ve missed, please let me know, there’s always room for more good news. Thanks.

Top Tip

There’s been a very useful discussion at the BC Real Estate Association about a new kind of liability insurance. If you’re a broker, you’ve probably stayed awake some nights, wondering about your personal exposure to Council discipline. Ditto if you’re a REALTOR®. Our Errors and Omissions Insurance, ably provided to all licensees by our Real Estate Errors and Omissions Insurance Corporation since 1988, only covers us in court, not at Council. Maybe that wasn’t so worrisome when Council’s maximum fine was $10,000. But with Council’s fine regime being much more robust combined with not inconsiderable hearing costs, not having insurance for this risk is a recipe for night sweats.Click here to learn more.

Sales meeting Zoominars

If you or your Managing Broker would like me to attend one of your office meetings, send me an email at kspencer@rebgv.org to book. With the help of Zoom, I’ve done quite a few of these to update members as to what’s going on out there since the beginning of the year. I’m fairly booked but still have time slots left.

BC Election - Saturday, October 24, 2020

Platforms and promises 

High market and rental home prices and a record number of homeless residents have become key campaign issues. Here are solutions offered by four political parties.

Read more.

How to vote, where to vote

Get the latest info on mail-in ballots, advance polls, voting in person, and more.

Read more.

Candidates in your Board’s area

There are 32 provincial ridings in the Real Estate Board area. Here are the candidates running in these ridings.

Read more.

Two REALTOR® candidates

After scouring candidate lists and asking members, we’ve found there are two very brave, highly committed REALTORS® running in the provincial election. If there are more, please let us know.

Read more.

Questions to ask candidates

If you’re watching an online debate or contacting a candidate, here are three questions you can ask about making market housing more affordable. Don’t forget to let us know how the candidate responds.

Read more.