Member Update June 12, 2020

June 12, 2020

REBGV, Council and others continue to strongly recommend no open houses

As we enter another weekend during the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s important to again reiterate the latest instruction to REALTORS® across the region and province related to hosting physical open houses.

The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV), along with the BC Real Estate Association, the Real Estate Council of BC (Council), and WorkSafeBC, continue to strongly recommend that Realtors not hold physical open houses at this time.

Watch the below video message from REBGV Chair Colette Gerber to learn more about the reasoning behind our position.

Your Board first made this recommendation in March when public health officials began to institute physical distancing requirements. Since then, other organizations have made similar statements.

“Ensuring public protection during these challenging times is RECBC’s highest priority” said Council’s CEO, Erin Seeley. “That’s why we’ve taken the position that during this crisis, no open houses should be held.”

While the province has now entered phase two of the BC Restart Plan, public health orders on physical distancing requirements remain in place. We’re continuing to disable the open house feature in Paragon in support of these measures.

Holding open houses exposes clients and colleagues to unnecessary risk and is contrary to advice from provincial health officials. WorkSafeBC’s re-opening guide, for example, states that Realtors should offer virtual viewings or virtual open houses where possible.

“We need to help our clients meet their housing needs in a responsible way,” said Colette Gerber, REBGV Chair. “We all have to step up and do our part to follow the advice of provincial health officials.”

Risk to reputation

Beyond the issue of public safety, the reputation of our profession could be affected by members acting contrary to the advice of public officials.

“We’re all judged by the actions of a few, as we learned to our dismay in 2016. Please, let’s not have a repeat performance,” said Ethics Guy® Kim Spencer.

We’ll update you with new recommendations as we move through the phases of the BC Restart Plan.

More information

BC extends state of emergency until June 23

Earlier this week, the provincial government extended BC’s state of emergency until June 23. This state has been in place since March 18 and is the longest in the province’s history.

The province based this decision on recommendations from BC’s health and emergency management officials.

The state of emergency will continue to give the province the power to enforce public safety protocols like the moratorium on evictions.

We’ll keep you up to date as more information becomes available.

Take our latest member pulse check survey

As we move through phase two of BC’s plan to re-open the province, we want to know more about any challenges you’re facing and hear suggestions you have on how REBGV can help you.

Share your feedback with us by completing our latest member pulse check survey. It’ll only take a few minutes to complete.

Your feedback will help us determine how we can better serve you through this challenging time.   

Thanks for sharing.

Share our May stats reports, videos, infographics and more

We released our latest MLS® housing market report last week. The May 2020 numbers show that home prices are remaining steady during COVID-19 and that home buyers and sellers are becoming more comfortable operating in today’s market.

There are several ways you can share our statistics resources with your clients:

  • Share our May 2020 housing report to give your clients the full picture of what’s happening in today’s market. You can also share our May 2020 Market Insights video.
  • Our Stats Centre Reports (login required) break down our monthly MLS® statistics by area. These reports are great for highlighting market activity for clients looking for a home in a specific community.
  • REBGV Stats Centre (login required) is a tool to create custom housing market charts and graphs to easily embed on your website or share on social media. This tool allows you to drill down to the sub-area level so you can create charts and graphs for specific neighbourhoods.

We’ve also published a variety of articles on our public website, www.rebgv.org, for you to share with your clients. Our most recent articles explain how home prices have remained stable during COVID-19 and explain what the public can expect when working with a REALTOR® today.