REALTOR® NEWSREALTOR® NEWS
May 16, 2018
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Featured News

Your new listings will soon appear on REALTOR.ca within one day

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To help service your clients better, your new listings will begin appearing on REALTOR.ca within one day after they’ve been entered on Paragon. This change will take effect June 11.

New listings currently appear on the site two days after they’re added to Paragon.

“After research and discussion with REALTORS®, we’ve found most clients expect to get information as soon as possible,” said Board CEO Brad Scott. “This puts our members on equal footing with data that comes from Realtors at other boards and could result in increased leads from REALTOR.ca. Ultimately it’s a better service to Realtors’ clients.”

The Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) administers REALTOR.ca and has long requested that boards send listing information as soon as it becomes available on the local MLS®.

Shortly after CREA launched REALTOR.ca in the 1990s, we, along with other boards, decided to delay sending information to the site by two days to give members and their clients time to review the listing before it became public.

That was more than two decades ago. Since then, most boards have switched to a more regular information feed to REALTOR.ca. Your Board is the only large real estate board in the country that delays listings for two days.

The Fraser Valley, Calgary, Edmonton, Montreal, and Toronto real estate boards all update their listing information on REALTOR.ca more frequently and have done so for many years.

If you have questions about this change, please contact support@rebgv.org.

Council releases new forms, resources ahead of June 15 rule changes

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June 15 is the day new Real Estate Council of BC (Council) rules go into effect for all real estate licensees in BC.

On May 15, Council released the four new forms you’ll be required to use when the new rules are implemented next month. They are:

Council also created guides that explain how to use them, including frequently asked questions about the situations in which they'll be required. Access them here:

Review these guides so you're prepared to use the new forms. You'll be able to access them from WEBForms on June 15 in six languages: English, Simplified and Traditional Chinese, French, Persian, and Punjabi.

Licensee Knowledge Base

Council has developed a one-stop shop for all the information you need to prepare for June 15. It’s called the Licensee Knowledge Base, and it’s a user-friendly, searchable resource with information delivered in a variety of formats. Click here to access this resource.  

Rule Changes: Agency and Disclosure course

Council collaborated with the UBC Sauder Real Estate Division to develop a new online course, Rule Changes: Agency and Disclosure. All licensees in BC will be required to complete this course as part of their relicensing requirements.

Click here to learn more about this new required course. Registration isn’t open yet, but we’ll let you know when it is.  

Other Council resources

We’ll provide more information as it becomes available.  

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Pausing the pace of home cannabis legalization

The Canadian Real Estate Association wants the federal government to implement a two-year moratorium on cannabis cultivation in homes to give provincial and municipal governments time to bring in regulations to make homes safe.

Read more.

Assignments of pre-sale condominiums to be tracked, recorded

Provincial legislation, if approved, will amend the Real Estate Development Marketing Act to require developers to collect and report information about the assignment of pre-sale condominiums purchases to a new provincial office which will share the info with the Canada Revenue Agency.

Read more.

Residential renters to be better protected

Residential renters and tenants of manufactured home parks will see new protections when Bill 12: Tenancy Statues Amendment Act, 2018 becomes law.

Read more.

Tell Vancouver how to spend the Empty Homes Tax revenue

The City of Vancouver is asking for ideas on how use the $20 million it will see in Empty Homes Tax revenue this year.

Read more.

And the award goes to... the Government Relations department

The Board's Government Relations department won the BC Real Estate Association's government relations award for 2017.

Read more.

Spring cleaning

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Writing a piece about ethics and members’ activities every two weeks for the past 13 years has resulted in nearly 350 columns. Every second Monday is my deadline (it’s a Tuesday as I write this). About two hours before the deadline, I often start to panic about what to write. A topic usually pops into my head based on a recent phone call, member meeting, or irate home buyer or seller in the Board’s reception area. But today, I have writer’s block preventing me from devoting an entire column to one subject.

So, in the spirit of spring cleaning, here are a few subjects on my to-do list, complete with Ethics Guy®’s colourful commentary.

  • Film producer Sam Goldwyn once said, “His verbal contract is worth more than the paper it’s written on.” And maybe, for Mr. Goldwyn, that was true for the person he had in mind. But for us, real estate contracts are not enforceable unless they’re in writing. They must be properly signed before they expire, and their wording must be clear and unambiguous. We know this. So why, then, do I often hear members talking about “going back and forth on the phone” to negotiate a deal? Probably because it’s so darned easy to do so. But what if one of the parties changes their mind after the verbal deal has been made but before they’ve actually signed the contract? That could prove messy. REALTORS® have insurance and very good E&O lawyers to argue their case in court. But remember, you’re on your own if a complaint has been made to Council. Who needs the attention of Council? I doubt any of us does, so avoid the risk by putting contracts in writing with properly drafted offers and counteroffers. Besides, getting clients on paper is a great way of getting them invested. It doesn’t take much effort to walk away from a verbal deal.
  • Mobile phones and texting are useful. They convey information efficiently. But they do a lousy job of conveying tone, so be careful how you write them. Think about the recipient. Is there a chance what you’ve said could be taken the wrong way? If so, have a rethink and then rewrite your prose. Always make sure you're texting to the right person. A member recently described a situation to me where a seller’s acceptance of a buyer’s offer in a multiple-offer presentation was texted to the wrong buyer. Yikes! I understand how this can happen. If you don’t have a person’s contact record in your phone, all you have is a phone number to identify them. If you’re replying to five buyers’ representatives, it’s easy to see how a mistake could be made by sending a text to the wrong phone number. Be careful.
  • Pay attention to your phone etiquette:
    • Activate your outgoing message and clearly identify yourself and your brokerage so callers know exactly who they’re leaving a message for.
    • Delete old messages so your voicemail box doesn’t get so full it can’t accept new messages.
    • Manage callers’ expectations by saying in your outgoing message approximately when you’ll be returning calls.
    • Clearly identify who you are and the name of your brokerage when you contact a colleague.
    • Leave a short, concise message for the recipient. Long, rambling messages can annoy.
    • Update your Paragon contact preferences so your colleagues can easily contact you.
    • Thank a colleague for contacting you with a showing request.
  • Remember that advertising another member’s listing or sale using social media is still advertising, closed forum or not. The Code’s Article 14 and Rules of Cooperation, Rule 8.03, prohibit advertising listings and sales if they’re not yours—subject to certain exceptions. These are:
    • Rule 8.12 Reciprocity advertising, displayed in the correct format on your own Realtor and/or brokerage website (only);
    • Rule 8.05 Cooperating brokerage sold advertising; for example, “I just sold 1234 Pleasant Street” ads;
    • “Public Record” advertising, meaning if the information is in the public record, you can refer to it in your ads, but remember, MLS® information is not necessarily in the public record;
    • “Anonymized” information that does not identify a particular property; for example, “33’ Dunbar lots currently available in the $2M–$2.5M range; call me for details” is okay, but “2222 Dunbar Street, call me for details,” if it isn’t your listing, is a problem.
  • Always check property information, confirming from original sources, including City Hall and/or the Land Registry Office. Whether you’re the seller’s or buyer’s representative, not checking the information could put you in harm’s way under the Code’s Article 4—Discovery of Facts.

Under Rule 6.04, strata documents must be available for inspection “at the time of taking the listing.” However, I suspect, the Professional Conduct Committee could choose to interpret the rule as being met if the documents had been applied for “at the time of taking the listing.”

Get the most out of your REBGV membership

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The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV) offers a diverse range of services to help members excel and foster public confidence in the real estate profession. We’ve created this brochure that showcases the different services we offer. Click here to view it.

Here’s a quick summary:

MLS® services

  • Paragon MLS® platforms
  • MLS® statistics
  • Broker load/Agent modify
  • Mobile MLS® apps
  • WEBForms (standard legal contracts)
  • Medallion Club
  • MLS® system training
  • Help Desk support
  • Third-party data access program
  • MLS® Home Price Index
  • Lockboxes
  • Touchbase (member-to-member text messaging)
  • Clareity (MLS® security system)
  • Broker reciprocity
  • Cloud CMA
  • Commercial broadcast email service

Websites

Communication

  • REALTOR® News: A bi-weekly REALTOR® e-newsletter
  • Bi-weekly Broker Update
  • Regular email news alerts
  • Media releases
  • Videos for members and the public

Charity and public outreach programs

  • REALTORS Care® Blanket Drive
  • Realty Watch
  • REALTORS Care® Shelter Drive
  • REALTORS Care® aggregation program

Networking

  • Member events
  • Online directory – contact any member
  • Quarter Century Club

Professional Development Program

  • PDP courses
  • Custom Category B and C PDP courses

Market statistics

  • Monthly stats releases
  • Monthly Stats Centre reports
  • REBGV Stats Centre - create your own graphs
  • Quarterly Commercial Edge reports
  • MLS® Home Price Index
  • Daily hotsheets
  • Monthly commercial and residential sales summary reports

Government relations

  • Political advocacy
  • Research and analysis on regulatory and legislative issues affecting the profession

Professional standards

  • Professional Conduct Committee
  • Arbitration services
  • Ethics Guy® column

Learn more about these services: www.rebgv.ca/wikis

Get a feel for the neighbourhood on REALTOR.ca listings

Starting this month, all listings on REALTOR.ca will include detailed neighbourhood information. Visitors to the site can access this new feature from a tab on the listing detail page.

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Neighbourhood amenities like nearby grocery stores and shopping are featured in this section and walkability and car-friendliness are ranked on a scale of 1 to 10.

Clicking on a particular category opens a new tab that identifies the closest locations. For example, you’ll see the closest daycares to a listing by clicking on the daycares category.

Neighbourhood information will be added to mobile REALTOR.ca listings in June.

 

Other News

REBGV in the media

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We continue to maintain a prominent media profile on your behalf. Board President Phil Moore is speaking regularly with print, radio, and television media about government changes, market conditions and other issues relevant to our Realtor profession. Here’s a summary of some of our latest news coverage:

  • Phil recently spoke on Breakfast TV about today’s housing market and how government policies are affecting home buyers, sellers, and owners.

  • Phil gave his perspective in the Vancouver Sun on May 8 about today’s market and government policies. Click here to read.

  • When BC’s Attorney General David Eby cancelled a planned event to discuss his government’s new taxes with home owners in Vancouver, the Board released a statement expressing our disappointment with the decision.

  • Real Estate Magazine recently profiled our 2017 REALTORS Care® Award winner, John Patricelli, for his commitment to helping at-risk youth. Read the article here.

Questions about new “insights” tool on www.rew.ca

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We’ve been receiving questions about a new “insights” feature on Real Estate Wire’s (REW) public www.rew.ca website. When you type in an address in this new section, you can see the:

  • Sales history for that home;
  • Sale prices of similar homes recently sold;
  • Number of similar homes listed for sale in the last 30 days;
  • Median list price of similar homes listed for sale; and
  • Assessed value.

The assessed values on the site originate from the BC Assessment Authority. The home sale information on the site comes from property transfer transactions reported to the Land Title and Survey Authority and verified by BC Assessment. It appears that REW reached an agreement with the BC Assessment Authority to have the right to post this information.

If you have further questions, please email us at feedback@rebgv.org.

One REALTOR®’s sale brings hope to poor families

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When Vancouver Realtor Michelle Yu saw a video online of a mother sleeping outside with her child in the slums of El Salvador, she knew she had to do something. That’s why she's donating her commission on a recently listed $13.8 million Shaughnessy home to help house families from the Central American country.

“We're in a privileged position where we can help, and we're using this opportunity to help people who are living in unimaginable conditions,” Yu said.

Yu is working with World Housing, which provides homes to families living in slums in the developing world by collaborating with individuals and businesses to build communities.

The seller of the property will also add to the donation when Yu sells his home. With both contributions, World Housing expects to be able to build an entire community that can house over 60 families.

“Through World Housing, we can make a difference to these families, giving them the safety and security of a home. This gives them hope, and the greatest opportunity for a brighter future,” Yu said.

Yu will invite whoever buys the home to a gifting ceremony in El Salvador. There, the new owner will meet the families when World Housing finishes building the homes. The new community will also be named in honour of the new owner.

Yu has dedicated time and money to many charitable organizations in the past, including the BC Children’s Hospital Foundation, the Richmond Hospital Foundation, and the Canadian Cancer Society.

REALTORS® donate over $28,000 to help Humboldt’s first responders

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Humboldt, Saskatchewan was devastated when their Junior A hockey team’s bus collided with a semi-trailer. The entire nation felt the small prairie town’s pain. Canadians came together to help Humboldt heal.

The Association of Saskatchewan REALTORS® (ASR) coordinated our profession's role in the #HumboldtStrong initiative, helping to raise $28,000 for the first responders who came to the aid of the crash victims. Your Board donated $10,000 on behalf of members through our REALTORS Care® program.

“The Humboldt Broncos tragedy touched us all in some way,” said Bill Madder, CEO of the ASR. “Our hearts go out to everyone affected by this. We felt giving to the Humboldt’s First Responders Fund was a way we could assist these everyday heroes, long term. I’m blown away by the support we’ve received from the Realtor community.”

The funds went to the Tema Conter Memorial Trust (TEMA) and Wounded Warriors Canada (WWC). Both offer support to first responders affected by tragedy.

“We are honoured and humbled by the generosity of the Association of Saskatchewan REALTORS®. This donation will go far to greatly aid in supporting those first responders and their families who answered the call that day,” said Vince Savoia, executive director for TEMA.

Donations to support Humboldt’s First Responders Fund can be made online. All funds raised will be used to provide mental health support to the first responders involved in the tragic events involving the Humboldt Broncos.

ICYMI: REBGV to open education facility in Coquitlam!

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Your Board will open a second education facility at 228 Schoolhouse Street in Coquitlam early next month.

Members will be able to attend PDP courses and events and receive other services from this new service centre.

“This new education facility will help us better serve our growing membership,” Brad Scott, Board CEO said. “Members work across a large geographical area and we know many of you have a long commute to get to our courses. We want to make it easier for you to access services and attend PDP courses and other events.”

Registration is now open for classes at the new facility. Click here to learn how to see and register for our upcoming courses in Coquitlam.

The Coquitlam office is surrounded by ample free parking and a variety of restaurants. Inside, the facility will be able to accommodate up to 44 members per class – including technology classes.

“Nearly 40 per cent of members live east of the Burnaby/Vancouver border. The new facility is accessible from several major thoroughfares, so members in Burnaby, Coquitlam, the North Shore, Maple Ridge and other communities can get in-person member service quicker than driving to the Board’s office,” Phil Moore, Board president said.

We anticipate delivering approximately 200 courses to 8,000 members from this location each year. 

We’ll officially open the Coquitlam office in June. We’ll provide more details in future communications.

Use CREA’s Data Distribution Facility® to display your listings on Kijiji

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The Canadian Real Estate Association’s (CREA’s) Data Distribution Facility® (DDF®) has added Kijiji to its list of approved third-party websites. The DDF® enables you to display listing content on your own website as it appears on REALTOR.ca.

It also enables you to contribute your listings to a national pool, so that your listings may be displayed on other Realtors' websites, as well as third-party websites of your choosing. Kijiji is one of several websites you can choose to send your listings to.

Click here to learn more about CREA’s DDF®.

For more information on CREA’s products and services, email info@crea.ca.

Obituary: J. Ross Ker

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Former REALTOR® and Board president James Ross Ker passed away in April. He was 92.

Ross, as he was always known, was born a third-generation Vancouverite in 1925. He was the grandson of Newton J. Ker, C.P.R. Vancouver land agent from 1910 to 1939 and founding member of the first iteration of the Board, known as the Vancouver Real Estate Exchange Ltd., in 1919. Newton, along with his two sons Alan and Walter, founded their own real estate company, Ker & Ker Ltd., in 1930.

Ross finished law school at the University of British Columbia and was called to the bar in 1949. He practised with Campney, Owen and Murphy before becoming the private secretary and executive assistant to the Solicitor General of Canada and Minister of National Defence, the Hon. Ralph O. Campney.

In 1957, Ross decided to volunteer as a director with the Board. He returned as a director in 1958, then served as vice-president from 1959 to 1961. In 1962, he became the youngest member elected president in Board history. He was also a founding governor of the Real Estate Foundation of BC and served as chair of the Real Estate Council of BC.

Ker & Ker was a top-producing company, and Ross himself set records for sales volumes and total dollar volumes during the 1960s. Throughout his career, he conducted his business with integrity, purpose, humility, and kindness. He loved the business so much that he stayed involved with Ker & Ker even after hanging up his licence in 2003.

Grateful for the number of people who helped him over his career, Ross became a dedicated mentor to other Realtors. He was quick to lend his expertise and advice to anyone who needed it. He also had a wonderful sense of humour and loved to share a laugh.  

He's survived by his wife of 62 years, Jill; son Michael (Kathy); daughters Melissa (Victor) and Jennifer (Peter); grandchildren Jessica, Sarah, Justin, Angus, Nicole, and Hannah; great-grandsons Jackson and Hunter; and “extended family” Tom, Kathie, Kendall, Rebecca, and Michael.

In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation in Ross’s memory to the Heart and Stroke Foundation.

Obituary: Robert Crowe

imageREALTOR® Robert Norman Crowe passed away peacefully among family and friends in April. He was 58.

Robert grew up with his adoptive parents, Edith and Roland Crowe, in Trail, BC. He was an auto mechanic before becoming a licensed Realtor with Award Realty Inc. in 1993.

Over the course of his career, Robert worked for Crest Realty Westside Inc., Broadview Realty Ltd., and Dexter Properties Inc. He was most recently with RE/MAX Real Estate Services Ltd., where he’d been since 2006.

Robert was a man of many passions outside of real estate. He loved art, music, architecture, and especially travel. He had many adventures abroad, with Nepal, Spain, and Yukon as highlights.

He’s survived by his wife, Donna; daughters Roxanne and Tawnia; grandchildren Tayler, Gage, Briggs, Torie, and Adalei; and a network of family, friends, and colleagues across the world.

In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to Paul Klimo Chemotherapy, c/o Lions Gate Hospital Foundation. 

What events would you like us to hold?

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We want to host events that are engaging and allow you to network with your colleagues and learn about emerging trends, tools, and issues that are relevant to your business. To do this, we need your input.

Take our brief survey and tell us what events you’d like us to hold.

It’ll take less than a minute and you could win one of two gift certificates for a free half-day or full-day PDP-accredited course at the Board!

Courses and Events