Members approve three resolutions at REBGV's centennial AGM

Thanks to the more than 500 members who attended our annual general meeting (AGM) on March 13 and helped us celebrate our 100th birthday!

To mark this occasion, we invited best-selling author and Emmy-nominated media visionary Leonard Brody to discuss how business professionals can benefit from rapid change, innovation, and disruption.

The event also included a hot breakfast, cake, and the singing of happy birthday.

During the AGM portion of the day, members voted to approve all three of the Special Resolutions up for a vote.

Special Resolutions require two-thirds member approval to pass. Here’s a summary:

Special Resolution 1 – Approved

To delete transitional provisions put in place in 2017 when members voted to end the Area structure.

Special Resolution 2 – Approved

To limit Directors’ terms to a consecutive period of no more than six years, and a cumulative lifetime maximum of 10 years, both of which exclude years served as President, President-Elect, and past President.

Special Resolution 3 – Approved

To 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.

Read more about these resolutions in this year's AGM package. 

Enjoy this video of the members singing Happy Birthday to commemorate our 100th year in business!

Redesigned Realtylink.org public listings website now available!

The Realtylink platform has undergone a much-needed facelift. Click here to view it.

The new site provides a more modern online experience for the public with enhanced search and filtering capabilities. It also features the latest real estate news and statistics to help inform home buyers and sellers.

Most importantly, it connects consumers with you.

The new Realtylink was created in partnership with Centris, a Quebec-based company that operates Centris.ca – the most visited real estate listing website in Quebec and the third most frequented in Canada.

“We designed the new Realtylink to make it easier for home buyers to find your listings,” says Brad Scott, Board CEO. “It’s a powerful tool based on proven technology. We’ll continue to work with our Centris partner to add features and data to improve and grow the site over time.”

Visitors to the new site can create a profile and save their searches and favourite listings. Search results can be organized in a map, gallery, or list-based view. You can also explore a home’s location through embedded Google Maps options and assess a home’s proximity to amenities through the Walk Score® rating feature.

“As a real estate association–owned company, Centris is proud to partner with REBGV. Thanks to our experience and expertise, we're able to provide a world-class solution to BC home buyers and sellers,” says Éric Charbonneau, president of Centris.

Listing information on the site is updated every 20 minutes, pulling the most up-to-date data from the MLS® systems operated by the Greater Vancouver, Fraser Valley, Chilliwack, BC Northern, and Vancouver Island real estate boards.

Beyond home listings, the site also contains the latest real estate news and statistics to help inform home buyers and sellers.

Visitors to www.realtylink.org today have the option to use the existing website or the new version. We’ll make the full transition to the new site in early April.

Feel free to share our new site with your clients. We’ll provide Realtylink buttons and other digital materials in future communications that you can embed on your website or in your communications should you choose to do so.

Introducing your new president and Board of Directors

Ashley Smith President	Colette Gerber President-Elect	Taylor Biggar Vice-President	Brad Scott CEO

We’re pleased to introduce Ashley Smith as your 2019/2020 president.

Ashley became a REALTOR® in 2008, and four years later became one of the youngest people ever elected to REBGV’s Board of Directors. A self-described governance enthusiast, Ashley has completed the Institute of Corporate Directors Not-For-Profit Governance Essentials program, WATSON’s Governing with Intention and Chair with Intention programs, and BoardSource’s Leadership Certificate for Not-For-Profit Board Chairs. Leading up to her year as president, Ashley also served on REBGV’s Governance and Government Relations committees.

 “I look forward to representing my real estate colleagues and serving my professional association in this, our 100th year in business,” Smith said. “The REALTOR® profession is about representing, guiding and protecting the home buying and selling public and helping to build healthy, prosperous, and sustainable communities. Since 1919, our Board and members have been working to advance these goals across our region.”

Supporting Ashley in 2019 will be President-Elect Colette Gerber and Vice-President Taylor Biggar.

Directors 2019-20

Public Directors:

Brian Friedrich
Bob Ingratta
Cybele Negris

Explore our 2018 annual report

Take time to read our 2018 Annual Report. It outlines the financial health of your professional association, and it walks you through the work we did and the goals we set to provide you with the best possible products and services. It also summarizes the volunteer work our members did last year.

View the 2018 report here.

Zombie contracts – dead deals walking

A member wrote to me saying he’d been asked (for the umpteenth time) to continue dealing with an offer/counteroffer that had expired before presentation and for an offer not accepted or countered. He described what was becoming a common situation for him: An offer/counteroffer has expired, and then, anywhere from a few hours to a few days later, another member asks him to change the dates or times and send back a counter. When our member said no, the reaction was disbelief, sometimes flavoured with attitude: “Why not? It’s no big deal. Everyone does it.” Or words to that effect.

I’m not a lawyer, but lawyers I’ve spoken to about this situation say you can’t bring a dead offer (or contract with subjects not removed) back to life. Some lawyers do argue it’s possible, but then they hasten to add that only a lawyer should try it—not a REALTOR®. So, for us, an unfortunate and inconvenient reality is that trying to bring a dead offer back to life can lead to problems not only in the legal arena, but also in the regulator’s domain.

So, you ask, what about the deals you’ve put together for which a deadline wasn’t met? They closed just fine, thank you very much. Our legal friends would probably reply, “Sure they closed. The parties wanted them to. But they were still ‘zombie contracts’ — dead deals walking.”

What happens if one of the parties changes their mind? It would take a lawyer about 10 seconds to figure out the deal was based on a stillborn offer, counter, or contract for which subjects had not been removed on time. The fact that the deal had died would be pointed out promptly to the judge, with a second point being made five seconds later, namely, that the current dispute is based on a contract that never existed. I wouldn’t want to stake my client’s future (or my commission cheque) on such a weak footing.

Talk to your managing broker, of course. They’ll have an office policy to follow. And, of course, members have pretty strong views on both sides of this. To me, it’s a risk-management issue. Why take the chance?

Acting as if there was an agreement may make you feel good, but how good will you feel if a judge later says there never was a deal? How will you explain this to your clients (or Council) when it’s pointed out that it was in your power to cross that t and dot that i by writing a new contract?

So why didn’t you? It would be embarrassing to have to say the only reason you didn’t was because it was too much work, or because no one else does it. Remember, it’s all fine until it’s not, as my grandfather used to say.

Top Tip: Write it down

I’d already written the copy for my last column before our former federal Minister of Justice gave her testimony before the parliamentary Justice and Ethics Committee. Politics aside, I’d be pretty surprised to meet anyone who didn’t find her testimony very compelling. It was a masterclass in giving evidence. One reason? Her references to the “contemporaneous notes” she said she had taken after important conversations or meetings. Her references to these added heft to what she had to say as contrasted with, for example, another very senior person appearing before the same committee who didn’t have notes to refer to. Just saying: take notes and keep those email messages. You never know when you’re going to need them.

Making home ownership affordable – the Federal budget, and Golden Girls revisited

Federal budget 2019 – new initiatives will help homebuyers

The Federal Budget 2019 includes initiatives for first-time buyers alongside plans to prevent tax non-compliance and money laundering.

Read more.

Roommates – the Golden Girls revisited

Living alone can be expensive, lonely, and even dangerous as baby-boomers head into their senior years. An increasingly popular alternative is sharing a home with others. Here are two women making this arrangement work – which their municipality allows.

Read more.

Demand for commercial real estate declines in 2018

The commercial real estate market in the Lower Mainland saw fewer sales and lower dollar volumes in 2018 compared to recent years.

There were 2,266 commercial real estate sales in the Lower Mainland in 2018, a 13.6 per cent decrease from 2,624 sales in 2017, according to data from Commercial Edge, a commercial real estate system operated by the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV).

The total dollar value of commercial real estate sales in the Lower Mainland reached $15.622 billion in 2018, a 5.2 per cent decrease from $16.483 billion in 2017.

“Demand in the Lower Mainland’s commercial real estate market changed pace in 2018,” said Ashley Smith, REBGV president. “While dollar volumes remained up near the highs we’ve experienced in recent years, we’ve seen reduced demand in line with slower economic growth and rising interest rates.”

2018 activity by category

Land: There were 861 commercial land sales in 2018, which is a 20 per cent decrease from the 1,076 land sales in 2017. The dollar value of land sales was $8.281 billion in 2018, an 8 per cent decrease from $9 billion in 2017.

Office and Retail: There were 815 office and retail sales in the Lower Mainland in 2018, which is down 9.2 per cent from the 898 sales in 2017. The dollar value of office and retail sales was $4.647 billion in 2018, a 2.8 per cent decrease from $4.781 billion in 2017.

Industrial: There were 489 industrial land sales in the Lower Mainland in 2018, which is down 7.7 per cent from the 530 sales in 2017. The dollar value of industrial sales was $1.441 billion in 2018, an 11.7 per cent increase from $1.290 billion in 2017.

Multi-Family: There were 101 multi-family land sales in the Lower Mainland in 2018, which is down 15.8 per cent from 120 sales in 2017. The dollar value of multi-family sales was $1.253 billion in 2018, a 11.2 per cent decrease from $1.411 billion in 2017.

Click here to download the full package.