CEO's message: Help us reshape your professional development program

Changes are happening in REALTOR® education that’ll affect the professional development courses that you take.

To explain this, let’s start with the basics.

You must meet the requirements of two educational programs today. Together, they require you to take 18 credits over two years:

1. The Professional Development Program (PDP) through REBGV, which includes 12 PDP credits; and
2. The Relicensing Education Program (REP) through the Real Estate Council of BC (Council), which includes six credits that are fulfilled through the mandatory Legal Update course. Council has more recently added a required Rule Changes: Agency and Disclosure course.

What’s changing?

Council is separating their REP program from the profession’s PDP program. Council has also said they may introduce more mandatory education over the next few years.

Given these changes, we’re working with BCREA and the BC boards to determine how best to evolve PDP. We struck a province-wide steering committee last fall to examine this issue and make recommendations. 

What’s being proposed? 

On January 23, the committee presented a proposal for a new PDP framework.

The proposal measures hours of development rather than credits. Under the model, Realtors would be required to complete 18 professional development hours within their two-year licensing cycle.  

Twelve of these 18 development hours would be completed through PDP accredited courses. Legal Update would no longer be a PDP-accredited course and members would no longer receive PDP credits for that course.

Instead, the new framework proposes that the remaining six hours of development could be accomplished through other types of learning. Some possibilities include conferences, Broker offerings, professional seminars, books and reading materials, or professional learning outside organized real estate.

Many of you already participate in professional development that would be recognized under the new framework.

The committee is developing a business case that’ll explain the proposal in greater detail. Your feedback will be a vital part of this business case. The business case will be voted on at BCREA’s annual general meeting on March 26. If it’s approved, planning will begin for a transition that minimizes disruption to Realtors.

Next step: Consulting with you

Next week, BCREA will launch a survey to get your input. Your input will help us reshape PDP. Please take the time to complete it.

We’ll share more details on this initiative as they become available.

Sincerely,

Brad Scott
REBGV CEO

2019 REBGV election results

Thanks to all members who voted in our 2019 Board of Directors election. The voting period ran between January 15 and February 3.

Out of 14,391 eligible voters, 2,973 members voted this year. This represents a 20.8 per cent voter turnout.

Here are the results:

1. Taylor Biggar, RE/MAX Westcoast *RECOMMENDED — 1,073 votes — elected to a two-year term


2. Leslie McDonnell, RE/MAX Select Properties *RECOMMENDED — 858 votes — elected to a two-year term


3. Jennifer Quart, RE/MAX Westcoast *RECOMMENDED — 854 votes — elected to a two-year term


4. Arnold Shuchat, Sutton Group — West Coast Realty — 784 votes — elected to a two-year term


5. Jason Wood, Pacific Evergreen Realty — 744 votes


6. Keith Liedtke, RE/MAX Westcoast — 609 votes


7. Tom Everitt, eXp Realty *RECOMMENDED — 608 votes


8. Adrian Keenan, RE/MAX LifeStyles Realty *RECOMMENDED — 576 votes


9. Reggie Tanzola, Rennie & Associates Realty *RECOMMENDED — 517 votes


10. Jack Bernard, Rennie & Associates Realty *RECOMMENDED — 467 votes


11. Lo-Ming Lee, Pacific Place — Arc Realty Ltd. — 465 votes


12. Logan Eskesen, Keller Williams Elite Realty *RECOMMENDED — 410 votes


13. Jin Luo, RE/MAX City Realty — 336 votes


14. Harvey Gill, RE/MAX City Realty — 145 votes


15. Al Abbas, Magsen Realty Inc. *RECOMMENDED — 112 votes

Celebrate REBGV’s 100th birthday at this year’s AGM

On March 13, 1919, 10 real estate brokers came together to form what’s now the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver.

To celebrate this historic event, we’re holding our Annual General Meeting (AGM) at the Delta Burnaby Hotel and Conference Centre on March 13 —our 100^th birthday!

Alongside the usual AGM business proceedings, this event will include a hot breakfast, birthday cake, and keynote speaker Leonard Brody.

“March 13 will be a day of celebration, an opportunity for you to learn about initiatives and services your Board is working on, a chance to meet with your fellow REALTORS®, and a time to exercise your right as a member to vote,” says Board President Phil Moore. “Take the time to register and come celebrate this historic moment with us. I hope to share a slice of birthday cake with you all!”

About our keynote speaker

Entrepreneur and Creative Labs co-founder Leonard Brody was recently named one of the top 30 up-and-coming management thinkers in the world. He’s an award-winning venture capitalist, bestselling author, and a two-time Emmy-nominated media visionary.

He also oversees new ventures for some of the most well-known celebrities and political leaders around the world.

As we celebrate our past, Brody’s insights will help provide a vision for our future.

Three resolutions

As part of REBGV’s continual focus on leading governance practices, your Board of Directors is proposing three resolutions for bylaw amendments for you to vote on at this year’s meeting.

Click here to read this year’s resolutions.

The first resolution would remove transitional provisions put in place to implement governance changes approved at our 2017 AGM.

The second resolution would cap directors’ terms to a consecutive period of no more than six years, and a cumulative lifetime maximum of ten years, excluding years served as president-elect, president, or past president.

The third would entrench the longstanding practice of past REBGV presidents not returning to serve as a director except to carry out their one-year term as immediate past president.

The latter two resolutions follow best practices in corporate governance today and are intended to ensure that there’s always a healthy renewal at the Board of Directors table to allow for fresh perspectives, ideas, and skill sets.

We’ll send you the full AGM package with all of the meeting details on February 20. If you have questions, please email Tina Creed at tcreed@rebgv.org. 

Preregister

The meeting is free for members to attend, but we ask that you confirm your attendance with Member Services by calling 604-730-3090 or emailing memberservices@rebgv.org. You can also register online here. 

Meeting day

Registration and a full, hot breakfast will start at 8 a.m. The AGM will begin at 9 a.m. Keynote speaker Leonard Brody will speak after the business of the AGM (approximately 11 am).

Event address and date

The meeting will take place on  Wednesday, March 13 at the Delta Burnaby Hotel and Conference Centre by Marriott in the Grand Villa Ballroom located at 4331 Dominion Street, Burnaby. 

Post your rental listings on the MLS®!

Paragon is now ready to accept your rental listings.

There’s no additional cost to post your rental listings to Paragon. Remember that rental listings are bound by the same Rules of Cooperation as other listings.

You’ll need to enter rental listing information yourself in the rentals section of Paragon.

Once your rental listing is posted on Paragon, it’ll flow through to REALTOR.ca the same day. You can search for rental listings on Paragon in the same way you’d search for other listings.

Approved reciprocity websites that choose to include rental listings will also receive rental listing data once it’s configured. This hasn’t been set up for Virtual Office Websites (VOWs) yet, but will be in the future.

This help document walks you through posting a rental listing. We’ve also developed a rental listing data input form that you can find on WEBForms.

Licensing

The trading services licence you have from the Real Estate Council of BC (Council) allows you to post rental listings and collect initial deposits (e.g., security and pet damage) from tenants who you’ve secured for a landlord or property manager.

Any ongoing property management beyond what’s described in a trading services licence (e.g., collecting rent, managing tenant issues) requires an additional rental property management licence from the Council.

Visit Council’s website for information about these two licences and what they allow you to do.

Questions? Contact Jennie deFoy at jdefoy@rebgv.org. 

The Ethics Guy®: “Oh, I’m so steamed at lockboxes and one-day codes”

So says a prominent member of our Board, and then continues:

REALTORS® not having the tools to do their work are driving us and our seller clients crazy. In the last week, our sellers have had two bad experiences with Realtors who failed to show their home after saying they would. Then, these very same Realtors disappeared in a puff of smoke when we reached out to them for an explanation as to what happened. We understand things happen: a client drives up to a home, and perhaps says it won’t work for them.

We get it. Let me explain. Having watched the use of one-day codes get completely out of hand, we derived a policy with our clients’ support regarding the use of them. After getting written authority to use a lockbox and grant one-day codes on the Schedule A, we ask buyer agents to confirm they’re at the property by sending us a photo of themselves in front of the home, at the appointed time. When done, we’ll release a one-day code to them. So far, it’s worked beautifully, with many Realtors obliging us, without issue. Then, along comes the first showing appointment on our new listing. The sellers are eager. They also have a security camera at their front door, which many folks have now. A Realtor requests a one-day code. We tell her the process. Mysteriously, this doesn’t work for her. But she keeps her appointment. We think, perhaps she has a lockbox card. No. Instead, she simply doesn’t show the property. Of course, being the suspicious people that we are, we realize there was an open house around the corner from our listing that her clients were likely attending without her and she thought she could give them the one-day code to let them see our home. But then, we thought no. We’re just being paranoid. There’s sure to be a logical explanation; for example, she got lost travelling from the West Side of Vancouver to our area. So, we phone and phone and phone, and Touchbase and Touchbase and text. You get the picture. She’s still never gotten back to us. We reassure our disappointed clients this is not the typical behaviour to be expected.

Then comes appointment number two, today. Again, the same sellers are eager about a showing, as are all sellers in our area right now. This time the Realtor shows up but doesn’t know how to use the lockbox, which gets captured on camera. Instead of contacting us for help, she leaves the property with her clients. Now, we have dumbfounded clients twice as disappointed as they were before because of a Realtor’s behaviour. It really has them scratching their heads. This is so frustrating for sellers—and for buyers, never mind us. Again, the Realtor from today isn’t returning any of our calls. I’m on my way to see our sellers to assure them that all Realtors are not … (you fill in the blank).

Hear, hear. Member-to-member courtesy is vital in our profession. So is good communication. And learning how to use a lockbox beforehand, if you’re going to an area that has lockboxes, wouldn’t hurt. Our Member Services Department is happy to answer your lockbox questions if you need help.

For sellers’ agents, please remember the new Rule of Cooperation, Rule 10.01, (but especially 10.01 b and c), effective November 1, 2018.

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Top Tip: The fountain of youth listing

As the dreaded day I become a pensioner draws closer, the notion of there being a fountain of youth is strangely comforting… if only one really existed. A long-time managing broker says he’s just seen a listing for which the seller’s agent has, perhaps, bathed in the elusive fountain of youth. It’s a resale home, having been listed twice previously during its 38 years of life. The latest listing, however, shows an age of just one year. Ahem. Just as I can’t wish away some of my years, neither can a 38-year-old house go backwards in time. The house in question is not one-year-old. It is a 38-year-old house on which a major renovation was finished a year ago. It may seem “just like new,” to the builder, the owner, and you, but a buyer may not see it that way, especially if they’ve relied on the listing information which clearly says in the Age Field, “1.”

Our rules require sellers’ agents to provide accurate information to the MLS®. The rules also require buyers’ agents to check all the information they provide to their buyers ROC 3.06; REALTOR® Code Article 4). Don’t put yourself in harm’s way. Check the listing information for accuracy before you list or sell.

P.S. The listing information in this case has been brought to the managing broker’s attention by Board staff and it's been corrected.

New rules for drones and for heritage

Stricter rules for drone operation  

As of June 1, 2019, anyone using drones in Canada must comply with new Transport Canada rules, which apply to different categories of drones, depending on the size, and whether it’s used it for recreation or business. Fines are steep so it’s important to know the rules.

Read more.

Heritage fact sheet – includes a handy table of rules

If a home is more than 60 years old, it may be considered character or heritage regardless of how well it’s preserved or altered. Each municipality within our boundaries treats heritage differently. We’ve sorted out the rules for you.

Read more.

REALTOR® advertising campaign update

Our REALTOR® advertising campaign launched last November with a round of radio and social media ads. Since January, it’s been running in full swing with the addition of TV and online video ads. We created versions in English, Mandarin, Cantonese, and Punjabi.

These ads are playing across Canada's major media outlets.

The English ad, for example, will appear on Global 32 times this week, twice on CBC, 30 times on Omni, 28 times on CTV, and 13 times on City TV. It’s also appearing in on-demand programming from the stations mentioned above as well as on connected TV systems like Apple TV and Roku.

We’ll begin running print ads in local ethnic newspapers like the Sing Tao and Ming Pao next week. We also partnered with Global News to place this article on its website. It highlights the value a Realtor provides in a real estate transaction. Please share this article on your websites and social media accounts.

We’ll share more information about the campaign in future communications.

Home listings increase while buyers remain in holding pattern

Home listings continue to increase across all housing categories in the Metro Vancouver housing market while home buyer activity remains below historical averages.

The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV) reports that residential home sales in the region totalled 1,103 in January 2019, a 39.3 per cent decrease from the 1,818 sales recorded in January 2018, and a 2.9 per cent increase from the 1,072 homes sold in December 2018.

Last month’s sales were 36.3 per cent below the 10-year January sales average and were the lowest January-sales total since 2009.

“REALTORS® are seeing more traffic at open houses compared to recent months. Homes priced well for today’s market are garnering interest, however, buyers are choosing to remain in a holding pattern for the time being,” Phil Moore, REBGV president said.

There were 4,848 detached, attached and apartment homes newly listed for sale on the Multiple Listing Service® (MLS®) in Metro Vancouver in January 2019. This represents a 27.7 per cent increase compared to the 3,796 homes listed in January 2018 and a 244.6 per cent increase compared to the 1,407 homes listed in December 2018.

The total number of homes currently listed for sale on the MLS® system in Metro Vancouver is 10,808, a 55.6 per cent increase compared to January 2018 (6,947) and a 5.2 per cent increase compared to December 2018 (10,275).

For all property types, the sales-to-active listings ratio for January 2019 is 10.2 per cent. By property type, the ratio is 6.8 per cent for detached homes, 11.9 per cent for townhomes, and 13.6 per cent for condominiums.

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

“Home prices have edged down across all home types in the region over the last seven months,” Moore said.

The MLS® Home Price Index composite benchmark price for all residential homes in Metro Vancouver is currently $1,019,600. This represents a 4.5 per cent decrease over January 2018, and a 7.2 per cent decrease over the past six months.

“Economic fundamentals underpinning our market for home buyers and sellers remain strong. Today’s market conditions are largely the result of the mortgage stress test that the federal government imposed at the beginning of last year,” Moore said. “This measure, coupled with an increase in mortgage rates, took away as much as 25 per cent of purchasing power from many home buyers trying to enter the market.”

Sales of detached homes in January 2019 reached 339, a 30.4 per cent decrease from the 487 detached sales recorded in January 2018. The benchmark price for detached homes is $1,453,400. This represents a 9.1 per cent decrease from January 2018, and an 8.3 per cent decrease over the past six months.

Sales of apartment homes reached 559 in January 2019, a 44.8 per cent decrease compared to the 1,012 sales in January 2018. The benchmark price of an apartment property is $658,600. This represents a 1.7 per cent decrease from January 2018, and a 6.6 per cent decrease over the past six months.

Attached home sales in January 2019 totalled 205, a 35.7 per cent decrease compared to the 319 sales in January 2018. The benchmark price of an attached unit is $800,600. This represents a 0.5 per cent decrease from January 2018, and a 6.2 per cent decrease over the past six months.