REALTOR® NEWSREALTOR® NEWS
January 10, 2019
Watch the news you need to know in 90 seconds.

Featured News

Join us in celebrating REBGV’s 100th year in business!

image

Your Board turns 100 in 2019!

The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver was founded as the Vancouver Real Estate Exchange on March 13, 1919. 

We’re adopting the 100-year commemorative logo, pictured here, for the year to mark this occasion.

We also have several festivities and surprises planned to celebrate our centennial.

“We have much to be proud of over our 100 years of existence. We have a history of pioneering initiatives that benefit real estate practitioners across our region and the country,” Brad Scott, REBGV CEO said. “We want to continue to build on this tradition together with our REALTORS® and Brokers as we look forward to the next 100 years of service to our members and the community you represent.”

We’ll hold our Annual General Meeting (AGM) on March 13, 100 years to the day since your Board was founded. The meeting will include breakfast, birthday cake, and guest speaker Leonard Brody. Brody is an entrepreneur, venture capitalist, author, and media visionary. You won’t want to miss this event. Look for more AGM details in the weeks ahead.

We plan to hold other events, online contests with REBGV 100-year branded prizes, and more throughout the year.

We’ll also share stories and photos from our history that detail changes within the Board, the industry, the Metro Vancouver region, and more. Look for these in our newsletter, on our websites and social media accounts. We’ve recently launched an REBGV Instagram account to help us share some of our best pictures from the past 100 years.

Do you have any unique or interesting stories about your time in the business? We want to hear from you. Contact Jesse Lalime at 604-730-3077 or jlalime@rebgv.org.

“We want to include as many members as possible in recognizing this milestone,” Phil Moore, REBGV president said. “Keep an eye on our communications and attend our events throughout the year to be a part of the celebration.”

You can also stay on top of our 100-year activities by joining our REBGV members’ Facebook group. Click here to join.

See who's running in our 2019 Board of Directors election

image

Voting opens for our Board of Directors election this Tuesday, January 15. We’ll send you an email that morning with voting instructions.

Online voting will be open from January 15 through February 3. During this period, you can find election resources on Paragon and www.rebgv.ca. Just look for the REBGV Votes button (pictured above) on these websites.

There are 15 members running to fill four vacancies this year. You can review the candidates in detail on our website here. They are:

image image image image

Al Abbas
Magsen Realty Inc.
Recommended

Jack Bernard
Rennie & Associates Realty
Recommended

Taylor Biggar
RE/MAX Westcoast
Recommended

Logan Eskesen
Keller Williams Elite Realty
Recommended

image image image image

Tom Everitt
eXp Realty
Recommended

Harvey Gill
RE/MAX City Realty

Adrian Keenan
RE/MAX Lifestyles Realty
Recommended

Lo-Ming Lee
Pacific Place-Arc Realty Ltd.
and Pacific Evergreen Realty Ltd.

image image image image

Keith Liedtke
RE/MAX Westcoast

Jin Luo
RE/MAX City Realty

Leslie McDonnell
RE/MAX Select Properties
Recommended

Jennifer Quart
RE/MAX Westcoast
Recommended

image image image image

Arnold Shuchat
Sutton Group - West Coast Realty

Reggie Tanzola
Rennie & Associates Realty
Recommended

Jason Wood
Pacific Evergreen Realty Ltd.

 

Recommended candidates explained

To effectively govern your professional association, the REBGV Board of Directors needs diverse skills and experience. To help it find directors qualified to lead one of BC’s largest and best run professional associations, it formed an independent Board Development Committee (BDC) to seek out director candidates.

The BDC established a rigorous process that asks potential candidates to provide a resumé and other background information and to come to an interview with a BDC panel. The panel looks for candidates who have the knowledge and experience most needed on the current Board of Directors. It’s with this goal in mind that the BDC recommends candidates for your voting consideration in this year’s election.

Show sale and other information on your Virtual Office Website (VOW)

image

You’re now able to share more information on your password-protected Virtual Office Website (VOW), including:

  • previous home sale prices;
  • withdrawn/expired/suspended/terminated listings;
  • pending sold prices where no conditions remain other than closing; and
  • cooperating commissions.

A VOW is a password-protected area of your website that allows you to share listing information with your clients. These sites require your clients to create a profile before they can see this information.

Whether you already have a VOW or are interested in getting one, you’ll need to sign a new contract with us in order to operate your VOW. You can request a contract online here and we’ll send it to you once we’ve verified your Board membership.

If your website doesn’t have a log-in feature, then you don’t have a VOW. To create a VOW, speak with your website provider. Most companies that supply websites for our members offer a VOW option.

We’re in the process of updating our contracts with every company that provides VOWs in order to make this new information available quickly.

Your Board of Directors approved changes to the Rules of Cooperation last November to accommodate the public display of this information. Click here to view these rule changes.

If you have questions, email idx@rebgv.org.

Meet the new REBGV.org

image

We’ve redesigned our public website, www.rebgv.org, to help make information about REALTORS®, the housing market, and the home buying and selling process more accessible to the public.

After nearly 11 years of service, we’ve retired the old rebgv.org in favour of a new, mobile friendly design.

We designed this site to position Realtors as the most comprehensive source of real estate information. We used consumer research to understand what buyers and sellers are looking for online.

This new site offers an entry point for the public to find the basic information they need to buy or sell a property. The site features six “journey” pages with information for people with different real estate needs. These include:

  • Buying my first property
  • Trading up my property
  • Downsizing my property
  • Selling my property
  • Investing in real estate
  • Keeping an eye on the market

Our MLS® market statistics are also easier for the public to consume. The redesigned site includes infographics covering key market indicators, like the sales-to-active listings ratio, new listings, and MLS® HPI changes.

There’s also a self-service statistics section that covers detailed MLS® HPI, sales, and listings summaries for neighbourhoods across the region.

Each page on the site is also designed with social media in mind, making it easier for you to post and share this content with your clients.

We’re updating the site every day with new information and statistics. Be sure to visit it and share our latest news with your clients.

The Ethics Guy®: Five horsemen of the apocalypse

image

I think we should add a new rider to the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse: War, Famine, Disease, and Death. While they’ve given us good service over the millennia—every bad thing we could potentially experience has been very ably executed by them over the years—I believe they would benefit from having a new associate, one in keeping with the times. Therefore, I propose a new rider, named Social Media. (I briefly considered adding a sixth horseman to the group, Regulators, but haven’t for fear of tweaking their noses. Our good relations with our regulator should be kept good.)

Why the addition? Because in our arena of dealing with members’ complaints of all types, concerns about what members say about one another on social media continue to raise hackles, which in turn can lead to more complaints. Dealing with the consequences of a complaint can significantly impact a member’s personal and professional life.

First, full disclosure: I don’t use social media personally. Professionally, I weigh in only when I’m prodded by our hard-working communications department. So, you’ll understand if my views on social media are out of sync with everyone else on the planet. Even so, I hope we can agree that many people could be a bit more circumspect about what they say on social media. By “being circumspect,” I mean thinking about what you say before you press “send.”

This advice isn’t new. Remember the adage “if you can’t say anything nice about someone, don’t say anything at all?” Nice words, and great to remember in a social situation. They also serve as an excellent guide when talking about others on social media.

In our professional lives, what we say in public can result in far more than hurt feelings or not being invited back to someone’s home. I’m fond of talking about the different arenas in which others can take us to task for the things we say and do. A list of these would include the courts (defamation), the Board (REALTOR® Code Article 19, Discrediting another Registrant), Rules of Cooperation (Rule 6.08, Professional Conduct), the Real Estate Council and, of course, our new horseman, Social Media.

Of all these arenas, social media is the most unforgiving. No one is ever “just annoyed” on social media. Outrage, it seems, is the usual reaction. And that outrage—that red haze—can cause continuing problems for us because “Mr. Google never forgets.”

So, may I suggest while the new year is new, that we all pause to consider our words before we send texts, emails, posts, or tweets. Before sending, ask yourself if you would every say directly to the intended recipient what you're about to tweet, text, email, or post. If your answer is “no,” or “only if I send/post it anonymously,” then stop. Just don’t press that button.

Remember, so-called private discussion forums aren’t private. What we say on these platforms matters, has consequences, and can come back to haunt us.

I wish all of you a very happy, healthy, and successful 2019.

Post rental listings on the MLS®

image

By the end of January, Paragon will be ready to accept your rental listings. If you’re interested in posting a listing, here are some things to keep in mind.

Licensing

The trading services licence you have from the Real Estate Council of BC (RECBC) allows you to post rental listings and collect any 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 RECBC.

Check out RECBC's website for a breakdown of these two licences and what they allow you to do. If you have questions, call RECBC at 604-683-9664.

Paragon

There’s no cost to post a rental listing to Paragon.

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 place you entered the listing.

Approved reciprocity websites that choose to include rental listings will also receive rental listing data once it’s configured. This should happen in February.

Forms

We’ve developed a rental listing data input form and contract (called the Exclusive Authority to Rent) you can use. You'll find them on WEBForms in the coming weeks.

Questions? Contact Jennie deFoy at jdefoy@rebgv.org

Other News

New discipline decisions available

image

Stay on top of the work your Board is doing to uphold and enforce 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 rulings (C17-22 and C18-15).

You can also review the latest suspensions from the Real Estate Council of BC here.

image

Property assessments up? Down?

Property owners received their 2019 assessment notices last week. Overall, condominiums increased throughout Greater Vancouver while detached home values were mixed. Here’s a detailed table and information on how to appeal an assessment.

Read more.

Take the Real Estate Council of BC’s survey about last year’s rule changes

image

The Real Estate Council of BC sent a survey last week to all licensees in BC asking for feedback on their June 15, 2018 rule changes.

This is your chance to give feedback on the agency and disclosure requirement changes Council made last year. Council emailed the survey on January 2 with the subject line “Share your opinion with the Real Estate Council”.

If you missed the email, you can take the survey here.

Start the new year with a business plan

image

Real estate is a great way to make a living, but it takes time and effort to be effective at it. Success isn’t spontaneous; it comes from hard work and good planning.  

Have you considered what success means to you? Do you have a business plan for 2019? 

  • What’s your vision for your career in 2019?
  • What are your goals? 
  • What actions will you take to reach them?

Resolving to develop a business plan and follow it is a great way to start the new year. Remember to include training as part of your business plan as well. There’s always something new you can learn, and increasing your knowledge helps heighten your confidence and make your business more successful.

If you’ve never completed a business plan, a good place to start is our new Category B, 6-credit PDP course, Introduction to the Business of Real Estate. In this course, you’ll: 

  • identify the importance of business planning and setting realistic goals;
  • list the benefits of building a community of practice;
  • define key elements of a good reputation and a recognizable brand; and
  • identify the importance of proper scheduling and time management

The next course is January 15 in Coquitlam. To check availability and to register, visit our registration page.  

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

Last call for award nominations

image

The deadline to nominate members for our Professional Excellence and REALTORS Care® Awards is January 15—less than a week away!

Our awards are meant to recognize exceptional REALTORS®, and we need your help to find them. Here are the details.

The Professional Excellence Award

The Professional Excellence Award recognizes a member who has helped raise our profession throughout their career. Professionalism is about putting your clients’ interests first, making a commitment to lifelong learning, and volunteering your time and expertise. These qualities are what the Professional Excellence Award stands for.

Previous recipients include Sandra Wyant, Judi Whyte, and Sheila Francis. It takes only a minute to nominate a colleague for this award.

The REALTORS Care® Awards

These awards celebrate Realtors or real estate offices that help others by raising funds, volunteering, or doing other good deeds in the community.

You probably know a colleague or an office that fits this description. Nominate them today for our REALTORS Care® Award.

If you have a Realtor in mind for either of these awards, don’t hesitate to nominate them. 

Check out our new Instagram account

We launched our REBGV Instagram account earlier this week. We’ll be using the account to share some of the stories from our centennial, alongside pictures from Board events, REALTOR® charitable acts, and interesting statistics.

You can read our latest post now.

Feel free to share these posts with your clients.

image

Get your VOW here folks

You can now post sale and other information in your Virtual Office Websites (VOWs). If you don’t have a VOW and don’t intend to get one, this message doesn’t apply to you. The Rules of Cooperation have been amended to include a new Section 9, regulating Virtual Office Websites (VOWs). And, it's necessary for you and your VOW website provider to sign contracts with us before your VOW goes live. And, our IT Department has been working feverishly to put in the infrastructure necessary to deliver that additional data, for example, pending sales; expireds/terminated/withdrawn listings, days on market, cooperating brokerage commission, and related so it'll show on your VOW. Click here for details. 

Well done to a member I overheard at a fast-food restaurant in Kerrisdale

Amid the frenzy of post-Boxing Day shopping, I stopped in at a fast-food place in Kerrisdale. I needed a sugar-fix before I began setting up the new electronic gadgetry I didn’t need but couldn’t resist buying. And there, at a table 15 feet away, was a hard-working member. He was sitting with two buyers. He’d found them a condo they liked. He’d written an offer and was now going through it with them in detail before asking them to sign. My compliments to you sir – I wasn’t eavesdropping, but I couldn’t help but overhear the very professional way you went through practically every clause and subject in the contract. Even the closing costs. You explained everything they needed to hear and by the look on their faces they appreciated it. There was no “sign here, don’t worry about the fine-print” stuff. You crossed all the Ts and dotted all the Is. Well done you.

Viva Las Christmas hits the jackpot

image

Approximately 350 members attended our Viva Las Christmas holiday party on December 13 at the Hilton Metrotown in Burnaby. Members at the celebration helped raise $1,330 for our REALTORS Care® Shelter Drive.

The evening's big winner was Douglas Foulds of Century 21 In Town Realty (pictured above with President Phil Moore and President-Elect Ashley Smith), who took home the Las Vegas trip for two, a $1,600 value including airfare and hotel accommodations. (prize sponsored by Tank Tech Environmental)

Click here to see more pictures from the event. 

image

Courses and Events