REALinfo - September 2015

REAL info SEPTEMBER ● 2015

News and Resource for MEMBERS

MLS ®/TECHNOLOGY Regional MLS® update – page 2 Is your listing AWOL on REALTOR.ca? – page 3

MEMBER SERVICES MLS® activity for the month of August – page 3 RealTrack available at RAHB – page 3 Realty Shoppe – page 4 Professional Development Days for REALTORS® – page 4

R AHB NEWS RAHB welcomes new members – page 5 Honourary Life nominations open – page 5 ... And the Survey says!!! – page 6 RAHB dues deadline September 30, 2015 – page 7 2015 REALTOR® Election Toolkit and Election Headquarters on RAN – page 7 REALTORS®4Kids – page 8 Introducing George O'Neill – page 9

BULLETIN BOARD Get dirty for a good cause – page 10

OREA NEWS Changes to FINTRAC info and education – page 10 Harper promises to increase HBP withdrawal limit – page 11 5 Things to know about Bill 55 and bidding wars – page 11

MARK YOUR CALENDAR What's coming up at RAHB – page 12

Empowering REALTORS ® to Succeed

Download Full Edition

News and Resource for Members

Established in 1921, the REALTORS Association of Hamilton-Burlington (RAHB) represents more than 2,700 real estate brokers and salespersons from Hamilton, Burlington, and surrounding areas. Members of the association may use the REALTOR® trademark, which identifies them as real estate professionals who subscribe to a strict code of ethics.

The Association operates the local Multiple Listing Service® (MLS®) System and provides ongoing professional education courses for its members. In addition, RAHB is an active participant in the Home Ownership Affordability Partnership (HOAP) and holds an annual auction in support of local charities.

Advertisements of local MLS® property listings and information about the services provided by a REALTOR® can be found at www.REALTOR.ca. More information about RAHB is available at www.rahb.ca. ®

Mission Statement Empowering REALTORS® to Succeed President Donna Bacher

905.574.4600

President-Elect Kim Alvarez 905.335.3042 Vice-President Lou Piriano 905.628.6625 Immediate Past President Tim Mattioli 905.575.5478 Directors Ann Forbes Arndt 905.574.3038 Gary Herron 905.388.1110 Peter Holgate 905.637.1070 Jack Loft 905.304.3303 Sean Morrison 905.662.6666 Dave Nichols 905.634.7755 Gloria Payton 905.574.9889 Heidi Van der Marel 905.664.7900

REALinfo is published monthly by the REALTORS® Association of HamiltonBurlington (RAHB) 505 York Boulevard, Hamilton ON L8R 3K4 T.: 905.529.8101 F.: 905.529.4349 MLS® F.: 905.529.6636 Help Desk T.: 905.667.4650 Realty Shoppe: T.: 905.529.5979 F.: 905.529.7109 Email: info@rahb.ca Web site: www.rahb.ca Intranet site: www.realtorlink.ca Editor: Valerie Webster Editorial Assistant: Sheila Sferrazza Design: Maggie Inglis In-house Products: RAHB Print Services

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MLS ®/TECHNOLOGY Regional MLS® Update Here’s what’s happening with the new Regional MLS® System!

• The preview period for RAHB, the other STARRS associations and the Oakville Milton board has begun and members now have access to Matrix and can begin to familiarize themselves with the new system.

• You can now access Matrix and take a look around for yourself. Just go to http://matrix.onregional.ca to log in.

When you sign in to Matrix, you will need to use your new username. Your Matrix username will consist of our association's initials of "HB" (for "Hamilton-Burlington") plus your current user ID. For example, if your user ID is SMITHJO, your username will be HBSMITHJO, and your password will be the password you use now to access Fusion.

• Listing data isn’t complete in Matrix; we will let you know when regular updates occur.

• Your contacts should now be available in Matrix. Please take some time to look them over for completeness, and update where needed.

• The parallel period for the Cambridge, Guelph and Kitchener Waterloo associa tions has been extended and the parallel period for the STARRS associations and the Oakville-Milton board will also be extended.

• The MLS® Rules have been approved by the Ontario Regional Technology and Information Systems (ORTIS) board of directors; the Rules will be reviewed by the RAHB Board at their meeting on September 10.

• RAHB has prepared a Transition to Matrix guide to help members prepare for Matrix. The guide includes step by-step instructions on how to save your contacts and searches, set up your own identity, set up your team and much, much more. View the guide on REALTOR Link® or at rahb.ca/Matrix/transitionguide.pdf.

Some tips for using Matrix while in preview mode: Use the map search for best results



Listing data isn’t being updated regularly yet in Matrix, so new listings or those with status changes may not be there or may be out of date.



Continue to use Fusion for all your business as it has the most accurate data; use Matrix to get accustomed to the new software. 

Upcoming Matrix Training Sessions For Members: Monday, September 14, 2 p.m. - 4 p.m.

These will have similar content to the large CoreLogic sessions held August 25 and 26, but will be presented by RAHB staff at the RAHB office. This is lecture style instruction.

For Office Administrators and Administrative Assistants: Wednesday, September 16, 5 p.m. – 7 p.m.

Monday, October 5, 9 a.m. – 11 a.m.

For more info or to register for the training sessions, contact Camryn at the RAHB office – camrynh@rahb.ca or 905.529.8101 x251.

News and Resource for Members

Is your listing AWOL on REALTOR.ca?

RAHB MLS® staff have received numerous calls regarding listings that are not appearing on REALTOR.ca.

If your listing does not appear on REALTOR.ca it is because the listing is not mapped in Fusion. If it is not mapped in Fusion, it will not be searchable by the address or the map on REALTOR.ca, which means it can only be found by the MLS® number.

CREA revised its criteria for uploading several months ago, and now requires that your listing include the Internet Ad Copy and the latitude and longitude coordinates that are automatically generated in Fusion when the property is mapped.

Whether you broker load your own listings or your office does them for you, it is imperative the property is mapped properly as soon as it is submitted in Fusion. If Fusion

is not able to automatically map your property, you must map it manually by placing the house icon and car icon on the map. Be sure to click Save when you are done.

This will automatically generate the latitude and longitude coordinates for upload to REALTOR.ca.

PLEASE NOTE: If your property is not mapped in Fusion when first submitted, the map location can be edited after the fact; however, you must modify the Internet Ad Copy and re-save the listing to force the listing to re-upload to REALTOR.ca with the map coordinates.

When we cut over to Matrix, the same criteria will apply - once your listing has been submitted, you will choose whether to map your property automatically, or manually plot it on the map.

MEMBER SERVICES MLS® activity for the month of August Watch your email for the monthly stats release and charts.

You can also find the RAHB stats on: www.rahb.ca,

REALTOR Link®: Market Data & Stats, RAHB blog: http://blog.rahb.ca (use tags "stats" and "stats maps".)

RealTrack available at RAHB The RealTrack service is available for all members’ use in the RAHB Resource Centre.

What is RealTrack?

RealTrack is a licenced database for searching commercial real estate transactions of $500,000 and over, for properties located in Ontario. Compiled from land title documents, telephone interviews, site visits and other sources, RealTrack collects, confirms and publishes the information

of over 93,000 property transfers dating back to 1996.

The database grows at a rate of 100-150 new transactions every week.

Property information includes:  address/location  transfer date  consideration details (cash and assumed/vtb debt)  party contact information  street level and aerial photos (with site boundaries)  dynamic maps  property descriptions including type, size and number of units  description of site boundaries  financing details  broker/agent contact information Access to RealTrack in the RAHB Resource Centre is by chance or by appointment (one user session at a time).

Contact Kathy (kathyr@rahb.ca) or Nancy (nancyd@rahb.ca) to reserve September your time today!

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News and Resource for Members

Realty Shoppe Popular seasonal item now available

Canadian holidays indicated.

A reorder page (for next years’ calendar) for clients to use to contact you  Emergency and important numbers page  

Contact the Realty Shoppe to order yours today!

2016 Calendar Magnets 4 designs will be available to choose from – only while quantities last

45¢ ea.*

A great way to make your business card readily available to your clients: remove the cover from the adhesive magnet and attach your card. An economical marketing tool that your clients will appreciate receiving.

Special features include:  Calendar begins November/15 with envelope included  Removable magnet punch-out reduces mailing cost and makes 2 products out of 1! Use the punch-out as a second business card magnet.  Each page has either a home tip/recipe/quote (depending on the calendar ordered) and memo lines.

NEW in the Shoppe!

The Happy Agent Book

$

24.00+ 5% tax

Congratulations to Mike McNeil, Re/Max Escarpment Golfi Realty, and Derek Carter, Homelife Professionals Realty, lucky winners of the July 30 “Shoppe Customer Appreciation” draw for two adult tickets (each) to Canada’s Wonderland

* All applicable taxes are extra. Prices subject to change.

Monday – Friday, 8:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.

T.: 905.529.5979 F.: 905.529.7109 E.: realtyshoppe@rahb.ca

Professional Development Days for REALTORS® All new courses!

October 6 – 8, 2015

Courses offered during Professional Development Days are free for RAHB members who register prior to September 18; courses are $25 + HST each after September 18.

Note: members who register but do not attend will have a $15 + HST “no show” fee applied to their RAHB account for each course they register for but do not attend.

Tuesday, October 6, 2015  50 Top Sales Tips – Michael Appleton, 10 a.m. - Noon  The Four Pillars of Income in Real Estate – Michael Appleton, 1 p.m. – 3 p.m.

Wednesday, October 7, 2015  GeoWarehouse: New Product Update – Theresa Corin, 10 a.m. – Noon  Social Media Sales Funnels – Rebecca Mountain, 1 p.m. – 3 p.m.

Thursday, October 8, 2015  When Things Go Wrong – Mark Weisleder, 10 a.m. – Noon  Estate Planning – Ed Ounpuu, 1 p.m. – 3 p.m.

All sessions held at the RAHB office, McCullough Rooms (lower level). For more information or to register, contact Angela at the RAHB office (angelam@rahb.ca or 905.529.8101 x233).

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News and Resource for Members

RAHB NEWS RAHB welcomes new members The REALTORS® Association of Hamilton-Burlington extends a warm welcome to its newest members (July 25 to August 25).

Josh Krywionek

Apex Results Realty Inc., Brokerage

Shawn Doiron

Blair Blanchard Stapleton Ltd., Brokerage

Jonathan Leary Elliot Goldspink Mike Merry Ross Pollock Wallace Pollock Justin Bates Sarah Boonstra Joe Merrett

CBRE Ltd., Brokerage

Rajvi Solanki

CH Real Estate Corp., Brokerage

Artur Palej

Colangelo Real Estate Ltd., Brokerage

Rupinder Singh Bains Homelife Professional Realty Inc., Brokerage

Danny Brucculieri Patricia Lynden Patricia Mesaglio

Keller Williams Complete Realty Inc., Brokerage

Peter Abarca

Keller Williams Edge Realty Inc., Brokerage

Drew Toth

Kingsway Real Estate Inc., Brokerage

Son Nguyen Ricky Singh Rathore Public Choice Realty Inc., Brokerage

Binda Traver

RE/MAX Escarpment Golfi Realty Inc., Brokerage

Rimi Multani Ghazaleh Rahbar John David Gambrell

Right At Home Realty Inc., Brokerage

Randy Reynolds Diane LeMay

Vik Matharu

Royal LePage Macro Realty Inc., Brokerage

Paul Abelha Farhayel Ali

Royal LePage State Realty Inc., Brokerage

Bruce Dow

Sutton Group About Town Realty Inc., Brokerage

Ken Au

Sutton Group Realty Systems Inc., Brokerage

Royal LePage Burloak Real Estate Services Inc., Brokerage

Honourary Life nominations open Do you know a RAHB member who:  is a  has

recognized leader in the real estate industry demonstrated exemplary service to organized real estate  is a person of positive character, integrity and an advocate for ethical real estate practice  has made a positive contribution to the association over a period of no less than ten years  exemplifies professionalism in real estate?

All nominations will be reviewed by the Honourary Life Task Force and the award – if qualified nominations are received – will be made at the Awards Gala in January, 2016.

Find the nomination form and complete information on REALTOR Link® (under Member Services) or at http://rahb.ca/awards/2015/HonouraryLifeForm.pdf.

Deadline for nominations is Friday, November 6, 2015.

If someone springs to mind, then nominate them for Honourary Life Membership in RAHB!

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News and Resource for Members

... and the Survey says!!!

What do you think about RAHB and RAHB services?

Thanks to the 900 members (that’s 35 per cent of RAHB members!) who responded to the 2014 Member Satisfaction Survey, now we know!

Here are some of the things we learned from you:  69% of you are satisfied or very satisfied with RAHB services while 3% of you are dissatisfied with RAHB services.  Brokers and Managers are more likely to be satisfied with RAHB services, while salespeople are less likely.  Those of you in very small or medium-sized offices are most likely to be satisfied with RAHB services.  The higher the level of education you have, the less likely you are to be satisfied with RAHB services.  RAHB’s top three strengths are communication, MLS® and information  RAHB’s top three weaknesses are cost, membership, communication Why does this information matter?

Now that the Directors and RAHB staff know how you feel about the service you receive, what services are important to you and what you expect from the association, we can work toward improving our track record, improving service and meeting your expectations.

We are here, after all, for you.

Can 900 people really represent the opinions of 2700 members?

They can! The 35 per cent response rate has given us strong, reliable and meaningful information. The survey was designed and conducted by Framework Partners Inc., a professional polling company with, incidentally, extensive experience in polling for real estate associations across Canada.

In pollster-speak, the response rate of 35% is consistent with a margin of error of +/- 2.7% 19 times out of 20.

In layman’s terms, that’s pretty accurate.

Where can you get more information about the survey results?

On August 18, RAHB members had the opportunity to learn more about the survey results by attending a presentation by Alec Milne of Framework Partners Inc. The event was also webcast so those who couldn’t make it to the presentation could still watch.

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A brief summary of Alec’s presentation can be viewed at rahb.ca/framework/, or you can watch a video at rahb.ca/framework/summary.pdf.

More information about the results of the survey will also be printed in REALinfo over the next few months.

So now what?

Your Board of Directors, committee members and staff also met with Alec Milne to gain an understanding of what all the information means. From that meeting, they developed a number of recommendations for shortand long-term actions which address meeting member expectations and increasing member engagement.

You can expect that the results from the Member Satisfaction Survey will be part of every Board decision about member services going forward.

How does RAHB compare to other associations?

Framework Partners has worked with other real estate associations to determine their levels of member satisfaction.

Framework compared RAHB’s level of member satisfaction with nine other real estate associations.

Other associations’ member satisfaction ranged from a high of 76 per cent (two associations) to a low of 58 per cent. At 69 per cent, RAHB is tied for fourth place, at only seven points off the top mark.

News and Resource for Members

RAHB dues deadline September 30, 2015 The quarterly RAHB dues have been billed and emailed to you as part of your August monthly invoice. Please note that dues are due and payable no later than September 30, 2015. If payment is not received, suspension will be immediate as per RAHB Bylaw Article 4, Section 3, Sub-Section 3.01.

125.00 28.75 77.50 30.06 $ 261.31 $

FULL MEMBER – RAHB dues (October - December) – OREA dues (October - December) – CREA dues (October - December) – HST Total

75.00 28.75 77.50 23.56 $ 204.81 $

SENIOR MEMBER* – RAHB dues (October - December) – OREA dues (October - December) – CREA dues (October - December) – HST Total

Acceptable methods of payment: In Person: Visa, MasterCard, Interac, Cash or Cheque

By Phone: Visa or MasterCard Online through Fusion: Visa, MasterCard or AMEX Online: CIBC/PC Financial, Royal Bank, Scotiabank, TD Canada Trust – for assistance in set-up, please call Karin at 905.529.8101 x258.

Pre-Authorized payment subscribers will be processed on Monday, September 21, 2015. * To meet the Senior Membership criteria, you must be 65 years of age and a 25-year RAHB member. If you meet the criteria please contact Camryn in the Membership Department with proof of age (e.g. driver’s license) – camrynh@rahb.ca or by fax to 905.529.4349.

Membership Terminations: Article 4 – Section 1, 1.02 It shall be the Brokerage’s responsibility to ensure that notice of all Membership resignations and/or other Membership terminations for Members registered with such Brokerage are received at the Association office within seven (7) business days of such termination. Notice of any resignation and/or other Membership termination received after such date, shall be subject to a penalty in the amount of $50.00 per incident, which sum shall be payable by the Brokerage to the Association.

2015 REALTOR® Election Toolkit and Election Headquarters on RAN The REALTOR® Action Network (RAN) is the REALTOR® community’s one-stop shop for everything and anything political.

The federal election is an excellent opportunity for all REALTORS® to get involved in the political process. Not only does your individual participation strengthen Canada’s democracy, it has tangible benefits for your business and community.

How you can do it 1. Download the Election Toolkit 2015 to learn about the political landscape and how to get involved.

2. Volunteer and participate in election events hosted by your Board, Association or other local associations, organizations or community groups.

3. Ask candidates questions at events or when they come to your door.

4. Check out the ‘Issues’ tab on RAN to learn more about each party, their leader and how their platform impacts the real estate industry.

5. Follow iPolitics, a free subscription for RAN members on the ‘News’ tab.

6. Fill in an Election 2015 PAC Report on the ‘Surveys’ tab any time you meet with a candidate or attend an election event.

The information you provide helps us know their background, interests and priorities so we can more easily interact, build rapport and position our issues. CREA will be updating RAN as the election progresses so check in frequently!

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News and Resource for Members

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Order YOUR tickets today!

REALTORS®

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Thursday, November, 19, 2015 - 6 p.m.

Michelangelo Events & Conference Centre, 1555 Upper Ottawa St., Hamilton

Tickets: $55 each (taxes included) Table of 10: $500

(taxes included)

(Includes: sit down four-course meal, tea and coffee)

• New Format (sit down meal) • New Auctioneer • Raffles/Door Prizes

Contact Sheila at sheilas@rahb.ca or 905.529.8101 x234 to purchase your tickets.

Some of the great LIVE auction items:

ChefHome at

In Home Dinner Party for EIGHT!

Weekend for TWO in New York City!

APPLE Watch

VIP Package

Date Night for a YEAR!

Check out what is happening at: September

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rahb.ca -

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REALTORS®

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News and Resource for Members

Introducing George O'Neill If you attended Matrix training at the end of August, you likely saw RAHB’s new CEO at the podium. George O’Neill started as RAHB’s new CEO on August 24, and managed to make it out to all six training sessions to meet members and give a quick introduction about himself. Here’s the longer version: _______________

George takes the helm at RAHB after serving as Managing Partner and Broker of Record of O’Neill Advisors Inc. in Toronto, a Business and Real Estate Brokerage. Having an early avid interest in the role of social media in marketing real estate, George wrote the first RECO approved Social Media Marketing Course for Real Estate and delivered the course to hundreds of REALTORS® across the province of Ontario. He also chaired annual conferences on real estate marketing and founded the Real Estate Marketing Toronto (reMarkTO) group for information sharing. The group currently has over 900 members.

Prior to founding his real estate business in 2007, George worked for over twenty years as a management consultant with PricewaterhouseCoopers, Deloitte Consulting and for leading Canadian and U.S. companies including Hydro One, Spar Aerospace, McDonnell Douglas (Boeing) and the Manufacturing Technology Centre in business development, mergers and acquisi- tions, marketing, sales, operations and technology roles.

George holds Master and Bachelor Degrees in Mechanical Engineering from the University of New Brunswick (UNB) as well as an MBA Degree from Queen’s University. He is also a Certified Business Intermediary, a designation awarded by the International Business Brokers Association. Active in the local community, George supports various charities and is a director on the Boards of three private corporations and not-for-profit organizations. _______________

We sat down to have a conversation with George.

Congratulations on becoming RAHB’s new CEO. You left your own brokerage to come to RAHB. What prompted you to move from one side of the real estate profession to the other?

Thank you, it is a pleasure and honour to serve our members. Organized real estate is experiencing a time of immense change, and therefore opportunity. We are seeing an increased number of skilled and educated practitioners enter the business, perhaps more than during any previous period. Client expectations are rising, both sales and marketing skills are paramount, and the world is on-line. Practitioners excel when they are provided the training, tools and support they need.

Our Association is vital, ensuring our members have a modern, robust MLS® system and related operational

processes. I was fortunate to be given the opportunity to join as RAHB’s CEO just as I was selling my business and thinking about what I would do next in my career.

This is the first time you’ve headed up a not-for-profit organization. What attracted you to the not-for-profit sector?

Over the years I have worked with member based associations and have found the organizational missions and dynamics both interesting and challenging.

I am a big believer in membership service and of the importance the work our REALTOR® members provide to their clients and to the community. I strongly believe in RAHB’s mission: Empowering REALTORS® to succeed.

What are your early impressions of RAHB? Do you already see things you want to work on?

RAHB has a fantastic group of dedicated staff. Everyone has a choice where they work, and we are fortunate our employees choose to serve you, our members. As we move forward and your requirements for the services we provide may shift, we will respond and adjust so your Association continues to enable you to continue to serve your clients.

Do you have any major changes you wish to see at RAHB? At the time of responding to these questions, I have been on the job at RAHB just a few days, so it is far too early to talk about potential major changes. In the immediate term, we must not lose focus to ensure the upgrade of the Matrix MLS® system goes smoothly for our members.

That is perhaps the most important activity we are currently undertaking, in addition to of course continuing serving our member’s needs on a daily basis.

Do you have any additional thoughts you’d like to pass on to the members?

RAHB is fortunate to be amongst the leaders in organized real estate associations in Canada. Our dedicated Board, committed staff, and each and every member contribute to making sure this is a strong Association, second to none. The staff and management team at RAHB are proud to be a part of your success and I am pleased to be your Association’s CEO. September

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News and Resource for Members

BULLETIN BOARD Get dirty for a good cause This space is for REALTORS® to post wants and needs, information about events (charitable or otherwise) of interest to other RAHB members, business-related items for sale, etc.

Contact Valerie at the RAHB office (valeriew@rahb.ca) to get your info added to the bulletin board.

No ads for listed properties, please.

Royal LePage State is partnering with Marz Homes and Player’s Paradise to provide the site for the Multiple Sclerosis (MS) Society of Canada’s second annual Muck MS Canada – Hamilton Mud run. This challenging and fun event will be held Saturday, September 26.

The course is 5 kilometers in length and consists of 15 muddy obstacles. The course is meant to test participants’ skills as they run, climb, jump, crawl, and most importantly – get dirty.

Individuals and teams can enter on the MuckMS.ca website, for $ 70 a person, or $80 to be first out the gate. Group discounts may be available for teams of over 10 members.

For more information about Muck MS Canada - Hamilton Mud and to register, visit muckms.ca.

CREA/RECO NEWS Changes to FINTRAC info and education The Canadian Real Estate Association has updated its FINTRAC (money laundering) resource materials.

Changes include:  Clarification on the types of records that need to be kept to satisfy the obligation to keep records of measures taken to monitor a broker’s business relationships.  Revisions

to reflect FINTRAC’s recently published Guidance on the Risk-Based Approach to Combatting Money laundering and Terrorist Financing and the recent Supreme Court of Canada FINTRAC decision with respect to lawyers.  More

information on suspicious transaction records and reports.  Minor

formatting changes to CREA forms.

Revised CREA forms, which incorporate the changes, are available for download now on REALTOR Link® and are now available on WEBForms®. ***

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As a result of a new FINTRAC course developed by the Real Estate Knowledge Network (REvia), CREA will be discontinuing its own Money Laundering 101 course, currently offered by a third party and accessible via REALTOR Link®, as of December 31, 2015.

The new REvia course represents a significant improvement over CREA’s existing course as it is available in both English and French, contains broker and agent streams so that the law is explained in light of specific responsibilities, is more user-friendly, and contains numerous quizzes and helpful examples to help ensure that information members need to know is retained.

For more information about the new REvia course, go to http://www.revia.ca.

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News and Resource for Members

Harper promises to increase HBP withdrawal limit As part of his election platform, Prime Minister Steven Harper announced his intention to increase the Home Buyers’ Plan (HBP) withdrawal limit from $25,000 to $35,000.

the program has been in place, however, the purchasing power of the HBP has been steadily eroded by inflation.

CREA, through it’s annual PAC meetings with MPs, has lobbied for an increase to the withdrawal limit.

Since its inception in 1992, the HBP has helped 2.8 million Canadians to purchase their first home. Over the 23 years

5 Things to know about Bill 55 and bidding wars Real estate lawyer Mark Weisleder offers the following information about Bill 55 and bidding wars. This information was published in Mark’s newsletter and is reprinted with permission.

There is already confusion with respect to how real estate brokerages are to comply with Bill 55 and use the new Form 801 in a bidding war. Here are 5 things to know:

What was the main purpose behind Bill 55 in the first place?

Can a buyer still change their mind once an offer is registered?

The main purpose was to stop unethical practices when conducting bidding wars. For example, saying that you had another offer in order to trick a buyer into offering more than they intended to bid. You should keep this in mind when you say or do anything in a bidding war.

The answer is yes. Until the offer is communicated to the seller by personal delivery, fax or email, it can be withdrawn by the buyer.

Why do we have Form 801?

The main purpose of completing Form 801 is so that the listing brokerage can keep a record of every offer that is presented by a buyer brokerage and not accepted by the seller without having to keep a copy of the actual offer itself. This form can then be used as proof later if someone claims that you misrepresented having received another offer.

Can a buyer brokerage still register an offer?

The answer is yes. However, in order to register an offer, the buyer salesperson must know that the offer exists. In my opinion, this means that the buyer brokerage must have the original agreement signed by the buyer in their possession when they register an offer.

Can the listing brokerage ask a buyer brokerage to complete and send Form 801 if they want to register an offer?

The answer is no. This is what is causing the most confusion. It is not appropriate for a buyer brokerage to complete Form 801 and send it in to a listing brokerage BEFORE they intend to actually submit the offer. By doing so, they would be telling the listing brokerage in advance the identity of the buyer. In my opinion, it is sufficient for a buyer brokerage to just send something in writing to the listing brokerage confirming that they have an offer which they intend to present later. They can identify the property but not the buyer name. For a listing brokerage, if you have this information in writing from a buyer brokerage, you can then inform others that you have received a registered offer. However, be careful to also state that no actual offer has been received.

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News and Resource for Members

MARK YOUR CALENDAR Professional Development

 Golf

Held at RAHB – 505 York Blvd. – Lower Level C – Chambers Room M – McCullough Room

 Awards

Task Force

 Auction

Task Force

Computer Training Tuesday, September 22 – C, 9 a.m. – Noon Tuesday, October 14 – C, 9 a.m. – Noon  Matrix

Transition Training Members Monday, September 14 – M, 2 p.m.  Matrix

Administrators

Wednesday, September 16 – M, 5 p.m. – 7 p.m.

Thursday, September 24, 10 a.m. – noon SOLD OUT Monday, October 5 – M, 9 a.m. - 11 a.m.  HST

for the Real Estate Professional

Thursday, September 17 – M, 10 a.m. – Noon  Commercial

Numbers

Thursday, September 17 – M, 1 p.m. – 4 p.m.  Spring

into Style with Home Staging

Monday, September 21 – M, 9:30 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.  Ethics

and Business Practice

Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, October 27 – 29, M 9 a.m. – 4:30 p.m., $595 + HST

Designation Courses:  Accredited

Senior Agent (ASA) Designation

Tuesday and Wednesday, September 15 & 16 – M, 9 a.m. – 4 p.m., $299 + HST To register for these courses, contact Angela at angelam@rahb.ca or call 905.529.8101 x233

Board of Directors, Committee and Task Force Meetings Held at RAHB – 505 York Blvd. – First Floor T – Thompson Room P – Purnell Room  Board

of Directors

Thursday, September 10 – T, 9 a.m.  Nomination

Friday, September 11 – T, 9 a.m.

September

REAL info

12

2015

Task Force Friday, September 11 – P, 9:30 a.m.

Wednesday, September 16 – T, 9:30 a.m.

Wednesday, September 16 – T, 1 p.m.  YRN

Friday, September 25 – T, 10 a.m.

Upcoming Events  Professional

Development Days October 6 – 8, see page 4 for more details

RAHB Office Closures Monday, October 12, 2015 for Thanksgiving Day