CEO’s Message: Exploring the future of PDP

Education in our profession is changing.

The Real Estate Council of BC implemented a mandatory agency course in June and may mandate other required courses in the future.

In years past, we worked with Council to make our Professional Development Program (PDP) and Council’s Re-licensing Education Program (REP) a seamless professional development experience for REALTORS® across the province.

Since 2016, Council has begun distancing its education from our PDP program. With the likelihood of more required courses coming from Council over the next few years, we must decide how we want to adapt our PDP program.

Some people in our membership want the boards to PDP-accredit all of Council's new mandatory courses to make it easier to fulfill your requirements under both programs. This approach, however, raises the question of why we should have our own PDP program at all if it just mirrors the education that government requires of real estate licensees?

The BC Real Estate Association (BCREA), in collaboration with the provinces’ real estate boards, struck a PDP steering team this month to consider these questions and make recommendations. They’ll begin Realtor consultations next month and will submit their recommendations this spring.

We've long said that being a Realtor denotes a higher standard than that of a licensee. Our profession created PDP to increase competence and professionalism.

Education is a fundamental component of professionalism. They go together. If we want to “raise the bar” in our profession, supporting higher standards of education and accountability is essential.

We must decide what standards we want for Realtors and what needs to change. Where do we want to be on the spectrum compared to other professions? For example, we know other professions related to real estate, such as mortgage brokers, appraisers, and licensed home builders, have more stringent educational requirements than we do today.

We'll provide more information on this work and opportunities for you to give your input over the coming months.

If you have feedback to share with us, please email us at feedback@rebgv.org.

I look forward to continuing this conversation with you in the weeks and months ahead.

Brad Scott, CEO
Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver

Understanding our members and the home buying journey

Last year, we teamed up with the Land Title and Survey Authority (LTSA) and engaged Deloitte to research consumers’ experiences with Metro Vancouver REALTORS®, and Realtors experiences’ with their Board.

Our goal was to better understand the roles, experiences, needs, and expectations of both Realtors (our customers) and consumers (our customers’ customers) to help us continue to support you with the best possible service.

The research produced a set of journey maps—one for Realtors and one for consumers. These maps look at the “journey” of the home buying/selling process from both perspectives, and through the lens of a variety of personas. For example, the Realtor journey map looks at the process from the perspective of a newer, less experienced Realtor and an older, more experienced Realtor.

Consumer personas include first-time buyers, move-up buyers/sellers, resize buyers/sellers, investors, and those resistant to using a Realtor. Each one has their own story, goals, needs, and mindset when approaching key interaction points in the process.

You can review the journey map for Realtors, and the journey map for consumers online. They provide a fascinating look into the both sides of the process.

This research was done as part of our Excellence Program, our ongoing commitment to continual improvement in all aspects of our business performance, of which customer service is a key driver.

We’re reviewing these maps to find new ways to serve you better. If you have questions, ideas, or insights to share, send them to feedback@rebgv.org.

Need help with WEBForms?

The Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) launched WEBForms 5 earlier this year. The update includes a new user interface and enhanced mobile capacity.

Some members report that the interface hasn’t been as simple as promised.

To help, we’ve created a resource you can use to get the most out of WEBForms. This manual helps you:

• Navigate the site.
• Configure your settings.
• Find forms.
• Create and manage transaction kits.
• Add standard and personal clauses to forms.
• Link WEBForms to your e-signature and transaction management accounts.

We’re also planning a series of webinars to help you with specific tasks. Watch for more information on these webinars in the future.

Questions? Call the Help Desk at 604-730-3020.

The murky world of VOWs

Virtual Office Websites, better known as VOWs, are not always well understood. In fact, lately when I’ve taken to asking members whether they have a VOW website, I’m often met with a blank, puzzled look.

So, this week I offer a primer on Virtual Office Websites and how they’ll soon be changing.

You have a VOW if someone visiting your website can create an account and login. Creating an account identifies that visitor to you. Knowing who’s checking out your website can be a valuable sales tool. Visitors can also benefit by creating a website account. Large, well-known shopping websites allow account holders to save their personal details, preferences, mailing addresses and even favoured credit cards, enabling faster, easier checkouts. Real estate VOWs don’t do this, but in the very near future they’ll be able to display new information not previously available to return visitors creating an account. More on this later. But note, if your website doesn’t allow a visitor to create an account and log in, it isn’t a VOW; it’s just an advertising website displaying your listings, other members’ reciprocity listings, and likely, information about yourself and your brokerage.

A VOW is intended to offer the same service as a buyer or potential seller’s visit to your bricks-and-mortar brokerage office, so let’s first consider the type of information exchanged between you and a walk-in at a bricks-and-mortar office visit to consider the similarities and differences.

When someone walks into your office, you likely ask the person’s name and take down their contact information. You ask what the person’s interests are: whether they're looking to buy or sell, learn about a market area, or discuss the real estate process generally. In times past, you’d have given the visitor a local real estate newspaper and probably, a walk-through of the MLS® listings and sold catalogues. How quaint. We do the same thing now with print-outs from Paragon, including giving walk-ins a comparative market analysis showing current listings, recent sales, and expired listings. (If you want, you could also include cancelled/terminated/withdrawn listings.) Your CMA’s “solds” are probably properties sold firm but not yet completed, sometimes referred to as “pending solds.” And, all the property listings would include “days on market” information. Your walk-in will leave the office with all of this information and you will have the contact information you need to follow up later.

But the same information is not currently available to customers on VOW websites. Our Rules of Cooperation don’t currently allow us to advertise other members’ listings (with certain exceptions) and members cannot publicly advertise pending solds. When Canada’s Competition Bureau noticed this a few years ago, they objected. The agency found it odd that someone could get real estate information by walking into a bricks-and-mortar office but not by visiting a member’s real estate website. In response to this situation, the Bureau focused on the Toronto Real Estate Board (TREB), demanding that its members’ VOW websites provide this information. TREB advanced comprehensive arguments in reply, one of which was that the information was private and regulated by privacy laws. The Bureau didn’t accept these arguments, and neither did the courts. Seven years later, with $5 million of TREB members' money spent, the battle was over when the Supreme Court of Canada refused to hear TREB’s appeal. That’s what all the fuss has been about.

Our phone rang two days later. It was the Competition Bureau calling, asking when our Board would enable members’ VOW websites to provide this information to those who want it. Since then, our lawyers have been busily amending Rule 8.13 of our Rules of Cooperation (the “VOW rule”). There’s also some other background technical matters being worked on so the new data will stream into your VOW.

Once the finishing touches on the rule changes are done and it has been blessed by REBGV/FVREB/CADREB directors, it'll come into effect. Our goal is year-end. The existing Rule 8.13 will morph into the entirely new Section 9. Members wanting to operate a VOW will be required to sign a contract with the Board, as will third-party website developers. There’s a six-month transition period to turn old-style VOWs into new-style VOWs.

In summary, by year’s end everything should be in place so your VOW, if you have one, can provide visitors with information about you, your brokerage, current listings (and reciprocity listings if your brokerage has signed a reciprocity agreement), pending solds, expireds, terminated/withdrawn listings, days on market, and cooperating brokerage information. The only information a VOW visitor will not see is Realtor Remarks and seller’s name. But remember, this new information can only be given in a VOW environment, in compliance with Board rules. You’ll need to sign a contract, as will your website developer.

Finally, remember that if you just want to continue running a regular display advertising website, you don’t need to do anything. It’s your choice. As well, at some point in the not-too-distant future, and if all the stars align, our national advertising website, Realtor.ca, may display completed (not pending) property sale information. But, that’s a subject for a future column.

Five government initiatives focused on money laundering and transparency in real estate

The BC government has been implementing a series of initiatives in an effort to get a handle on perceived money laundering concerns and to bring more transparency to the business of real estate in the province. REBGV has participated in some of the government’s consultations in coordination with the BC Real Estate Association to ensure that our sector’s concerns are heard and our interests are recognized. Members are encouraged to engage with government on these various consultation exercises as described below. We will keep members informed about these initiatives as they proceed toward implementation.

Read more.

Thank you Blanket Drive volunteers!

Our REALTORS Care® Blanket Drive volunteers and real estate offices dedicate an incredible amount of time and enthusiasm to collect, sort, and deliver donations to charities that help people in need. With the commitment of our volunteers, thousands of people throughout the Lower Mainland are helped each year. A heartfelt thank you to the following area coordinators and their volunteers:

Gena Belanger, MacDonald Realty

Louise Boutin, RE/MAX Crest Realty

Michele DeFehr, Sotheby’s International Realty

Elizabeth Dyer, Turner Real Estate Partners

Regina Dutt, Sutton Group-Centre Realty

Ali Glencross, Royal LePage Sussex

Justin Hennessey, RE/MAX Lifestyles Realty

Janet Ingraham, RE/MAX Select Properties

Daniel John, Sutton Group Seafair

Doc Livingston, eXp Realty

Gordon Lockhart, Sutton Group-Seafair

Noella Neale, RE/MAX All Points Realty

Laura-Leah Shaw, RE/MAX Crest Realty

Susan Upton, RE/MAX Select Properties

Patricia and Sing Yeo, Royal Pacific

Rose Yih, Royal Pacific

Andrew Yuen, Homeland Realty

Thanks for making this year’s event another success. We’ll share the results of this year’s Blanket Drive in our next newsletter.