January 2017

Issue #331

January 2017

Why B.C.’s amalgamation vote failed Page 3

Privacy rights at heart of tribunal appeal, says TREB

Canada Post Publications Mail Agreement No. 42218523 - Return undeliverable Canadian addresses to 2255B Queen St. E., #1178, Toronto ON M4E 1G3

Page 6

Ethics and the ‘Coming Soon’ sign Page 20

CREA president Cliff Iverson reflects on a tumultuous year Page 8

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REM JANUARY 2017 3

Why B.C.’s amalgamation vote failed “We learned a ton from this and it is incumbent upon us and the (other) boards to open better services and operate more efficiently.” – Mike Nugent, president of the Victoria Real Estate Board

By Jean Sorensen

A

critical mass vote needed to amalgamate B.C.’s provincial real estate association and several boards into one organization has failed.

In a vote held Dec. 6 by six real estate boards, only three reached the required vote threshold either set out by their bylaws (75 per cent) or through B.C.’s new Societies Act (67 per cent). Four boards (representing 15,000 members) needed to achieve the threshold counts for the amalgamation effort to move to a B.C. Real Estate Association (BCREA) board vote.

The lack of support for merging B.C.’s large and small boards into one identity came as a blow to many of the real estate board presidents who had worked hard for over a year to put the issue to a vote.

“We were disappointed by the vote count but we are going to capitalize on the work that has been done. There was a tremendous amount of work and member engagement that went into this,” says Deanna Horn, BCREA president. “The important thing we need to take away from this is that over 67 per cent of those Realtors voting wanted change.”

Horn said she does not see the concept of change as being defeated as there was a popular vote to move toward a different structure.

Six boards (representing 85 per cent of the province’s Realtors) were willing to put it to a vote for a new provincial body.

The three boards that reached high thresholds numbers needed: B.C. Northern Real Estate Board (75 per cent needed and 89 per cent of agents voting were in favour); Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV) (67 per cent needed and 69 per cent of votes in favour); and South Okanagan Real Estate Board (75 per cent needed and 79 per cent of those voting favoured a merger).

The three boards that failed to get the critical vote required were: Fraser Valley Real Estate Board (75 per cent required and only 63 per

“We are stuck with a 40-year-old business model,” says Garry Gratton, president of the South Okanagan board, adding that the 11 boards in the province “can’t even decide what kind of coffee to make in the morning.” cent of those who voted were in favour); Kamloops & District Real Estate Association (75 per cent vote needed and 70 per cent of those voting favoured the merger); and Okanagan-Mainland Real Estate Board (67 per cent needed and 56 per cent vote acquired).

The original intent was to merge all 11 provincial boards, but the Victoria Real Estate Board made it clear early in the initiative that it would opt out. Several others were uncommitted, but as the vote neared, more boards opted out.

“Each board sat down and decided what they wanted to do.

One decided to opt out and four other boards decided they wanted to opt out as well,” says Damian Stathonikos, BCREA’s director of communications, as he describes the background to how six boards came to vote. The five real estate boards that opted out were Victoria, Vancouver Island, Chilliwack, Kootenay and Powell River.

The decision by these boards to opt out was reached either through a vote by the real estate board directors or by boards conducting a membership vote to determine their direction.

At the Chilliwack and District Real Estate Board, president

Richard Admiraal said his members voted 93 per cent in favour of keeping the 53-year-old board intact. “Our board never really supported the amalgamation right from the beginning,” he says, but the leadership took a neutral stance and decided to let the membership decide.

“In Chilliwack, we were happy to see that agents valued their local real estate board.”

Admiraal says the BCREA vote by the six boards was hard to predict; it could have gone either way as it had strong support from Greater Vancouver and the Fraser Valley boards and BCREA were diligent at getting information to members. But he says he thinks it was not clearly defined how some of the benefits would be achieved.

Agents were reluctant to give up a local voice and good services for something that was not totally clear.

Victoria Real Estate Board president Mike Nugent says, “We were asked to give up our land, building, management and staff, and the ability to provide local input,” he says, adding that it was not clear how new services, especially in outlying areas, would be delivered. He said there was a lot of “vagueness” about how services would be enhanced and improved.

Richard Admiraal

Garry Gratton

Dan Morrison

Deanna Horn

Charles Wiebe

Mike Nugent

Horn says that because the approval required from four boards was not achieved, a BCREA special general meeting with all 11 real estate boards, planned for the day after the vote, was cancelled.

“I am not willing to second guess what may have come out of the meeting,” she says. But if four boards had voted in favour of the amalgamation – with each board having a weighted vote according to its membership numbers – she says there was the potential to achieve the needed votes to move to one real estate organization.

In the Fraser Valley, president

Charles Wiebe, whose board supported the concept, accepted the poll results. “The membership has made their decision. I do believe in the democratic system. I accept the decision of the membership graciously,” says Wiebe. However, he said the vote of 63 per cent in favour still indicates there is a strong appetite for change.

“Perhaps it was not this change,” he says, adding that a number of members expressed concerns going forward that more discussion was needed with details of Continued on page 25

4 REM JANUARY 2017

Multiple Listings

By Jim Adair, REM Editor - Edited this month by Maryjean Lancefield

Do you have news to share with Canada’s real estate community?

Let REM know about it! Email: jim@remonline.com

M

acdonald Realty has opened two new locations, in Sidney on Vancouver Island and in Sechelt on the Sunshine Coast of B.C. These offices join the provincewide network of 20 offices operated by Macdonald Realty, a B.C. owned and operated brokerage with a 70-year history.

In Sidney, the new office opened with six agents and is

spearheaded by Chace Whitson, a multiple MLS Gold Award winner who has been with Macdonald Realty since 2013.

The Sechelt office resulted from a meeting between managing broker Patricia Place and Medallion Club winners Barbie Whitworth and Shay Moudahi, who decided to move to Macdonald Realty.

“The new office is opening at

just the right time with the Sunshine Coast market really heating up,” says Place, a part-time Sunshine Coast resident who also manages the company’s Squamish, West Vancouver and North Vancouver locations.

■ ■ ■

Engel & Völkers North America recently launched its Oak Bay, B.C. shop, marking the occasion with a grand opening celebration. Close to downtown Victoria on Vancouver Island, the new shop will provide services in Oak Bay, Saanich and Victoria.

It is led by Scott Piercy and James LeBlanc, who also own two other Engel & Völkers shops in Victoria. Along with Brian Danyliw, they also own Engel & Völkers Nanaimo.

“This market has quite a mix of retirees in search of the finest in golf community living and growing families who want to retain the modern amenities they may have left behind in the cities,” says Piercy.

The event was attended by Oak Bay Mayor Nils Jensen, Oak Bay Councillor Hazel Braithwaite, Vancouver license partner Andrew Carros and advisors Chris Burns and Brodie Young.

Representatives of Engel & Völkers North America included Richard Brinkley, senior vice president of expansion in Canada and Jack Gettles, vice president of brokerage services.

■ ■ ■

StreetCity Realty is opening a branch office in St. Thomas, Ont. in the old Lemon Pharmacy building in the historic downtown area of the city. The landmark building dates to 1908 and is undergoing renovations to meet modern standards.

“We feel this building will showcase the significance, uniqueness and history of St. Thomas,” says Costa Poulopoulos, president

From left: Scott Piercy, co-owner of Engel & Völkers Victoria Oak Bay; Lewis Ratcliff, advisor at Engel & Völkers Victoria Oak Bay; Richard Brinkley, senior vice-president of expansion, Engel & Völkers North America; James LeBlanc, co-owner of Engel & Völkers Victoria Oak Bay; Andrew Carros, advisor at Engel & Völkers Vancouver; and Jack Gettles, vice-president of brokerage services, Engel & Völkers North America.

Chace Whitson

Shay Moudahi

Barbie Whitworth

■ ■ ■

Stephanie Mitchell and Elsbeth Potvin, The Steph & Elle Team, have joined Re/Max Rouge River Realty at the Whitby/ Brooklin branch.

The team is ranked within the top one per cent of salespeople in the Toronto Real Estate Board and placed No. 1 for team units sold at their previous company’s Durham branch in 2015 and 2016 year to date, the company says.

Re/Max Rouge River Realty, established in 1987, is owned and operated by David and Dolores Pearce along with daughters Melody and Jennifer Pearce. It has seven full-service offices across the eastern GTA. ■ ■ ■

Stephanie Mitchell and Elsbeth Potvin

Val Petrov

and CEO of StreetCity. “We’re investing in the town and promoting St. Thomas and its value and history rather than just putting our office in a strip plaza.”

StreetCity launched earlier this year as the new brand for a company that Poulopoulos and Mary Johnson, vice president, had operated for the previous eight years.

They plan to expand the company across Ontario, retaining their head office in London. StreetCity has partnered with Peerage Realty Partners of Toronto, which provides financial backing and resources.

The independent firm also has a brokerage in Thunder Bay, Ont.

Real estate veteran Val Petrov has joined Burnaby, B.C.’s Keller Williams Black Diamond Realty in a dual performance role. Petrov will take care of the daily managing broker duties and also develop and implement key coaching programs designed to accelerate agent success.

“Val’s leadership and coaching abilities are what really stood out.

He is truly a rare find in the real Continued on page 6

StreetCity is renovating the Lemon Pharmacy building in St. Thomas, Ont. for its new brokerage office.

Patricia Place

+100,000

referral contacts

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6 REM JANUARY 2017

Privacy rights at heart of tribunal appeal, says TREB “Implying consent is not enough,” said CREA council Sandra Forbes. “Of the millions of hits these (virtual office) websites get, very few register, and an even smaller subset actually become clients.”

By Neil Sharma

Cover photo: RYAN PARENT

sumers, whom he says is anyone with a passing interest in the real estate market, from clients, adding the latter must consent to sharing sold data.

With intervener status, CREA’s lead council Sandra Forbes said sharing sold data indiscriminately could inflict damage upon the organization’s reputation and that the tribunal failed to provide “quantitative evidence” in lieu of qualitative evidence, which she called unreliable and speculative, in its rendering.

Forbes said the association’s concern “is (that) displaying private information that wasn’t agreed to could hurt its trademark.”

“Implying consent is not enough,” she said. “Of the millions of hits these websites get, very few register, and an even smaller subset actually become clients.”

Forbes argued that brokers emailing clients sold data is a controlled practice and that they’re subject to rules and regulations, whereas VOWs have wider audiences.

“There’s no such thing as a bright line between traditional brokers and a broker who uses the Internet to compete, because all TREB brokers use the Internet in some way,” she said.

She added that a VOW is not a new product of service because it is one way to display the disputed information. The issue before the tribunal was narrow; it was not if the Internet provides a competi-

tive advantage, Forbes said.

“TREB’s restriction does not interfere with VOWs’ ability to attract clients.”

The Competition Bureau’s lead prosecutor, John Rook, argued the court should uphold the tribunal’s rendering, stating it “already determined there were anti-competitive practices in the past, present and inference of future.”

He argued that sold data is critical to helping VOWs distinguish themselves from traditional brokerages, and that buyers and sellers see value in obtaining the disputed information.

He said without this information, “Viewpoint cannot enter the relevant market and TheRedPin (two brokerages that gave testimony) has not grown as much as it likely wants to grow.”

Rook stated that the brokerage where TREB past-president Mark McLean is a broker, Bosley Real Estate, had operated an app that breached the board’s sold data prohibition. Bosley was not the only brokerage that reportedly violated the banned practice, and Rook said TREB members made their displeasure known and threatened to follow the brokerages’ lead if the matter wasn’t swiftly rectified by the board.

“TREB did not take action against Bosley and Re/Max for displaying sold data on their websites for 10 months,” he said. “TREB president McLean had an existing relationship with Bosley.”

Rook said that “TREB’s real

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concern was with losing control over the data…There isn’t a scintilla of evidence to substantiate their (privacy) concern.”

He added, “The tribunal in its order instructed TREB to include all data in the data feed, but under a condition: VOWs using sold data can only be for residential real estate. That restriction makes it complete.”

In an interview with REM following the hearing, Sasso said the question of informed consent is at the heart of the matter – specifically, whether homeowners are comfortable with their sold data existing in perpetuity on the Internet.

He argues that easily accessible sold data can have a slew of ramifications because the possibilities go beyond the scope of simple real estate transactions.

“The question then becomes, does that homeowner have an interest in keeping that information available forever on a publicly available website? Are you really consenting to having somebody take a look 30 years later at what you sold your house for, and to be

able to do so through a convenient publicly available website?” says Sasso. “There are an infinite variety of uses to which information can be put. And as we say in our memorandum, when the information is out there on the Internet, you don’t get it back.”

Five years of litigation has hinged on the question of whether prohibiting sold data is an anticompetitive practice or not, but Sasso maintains that virtual office websites (VOWs) already have plenty of other tools at their disposal to become successful.

Sasso did not want to comment on how the appeal court may rule.

“I’m never confident or overconfident, and never comment on a decision under reserve,” says Sasso, “but I believe that the court will deal with these issues, given their importance, and with the level of importance that they deserve.”

Asked for comment by REM, the Competition Bureau’s team of lawyers declined, stating the government has embargoed comments to the press. REM

Multiple Listings

Correction

Continued from page 4

A story in the December issue of REM reported that Justin O’Connor is owner of the downtown Kelowna office of Sotheby’s. In fact, he is a sales associate at the office. REM

estate community, having management skills and forward thinking training,” says Jill Sinclair, team leader of Keller Williams Black Diamond Realty.

■ ■ ■

2255B Queen Street East, Suite #1178 Toronto, ON M4E 1G3

Phone: 416.425.3504 www.remonline.com REM is published 12 times a year. It is an independently owned and operated company and is not affiliated with any real estate association, board or company. REM is distributed across Canada by leading real estate boards and by direct delivery in selected areas. For subscription information, email distribution@remonline.com. Entire contents copyright 2016 REM. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission from the publisher is prohibited. The opinions expressed in REM are not necessarily those of the publisher.

REALTOR® and REALTORS® are trademarks controlled in Canada by The Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) and identify licensed real estate practitioners who are members of CREA. MLS® and Multiple Listing Service® are trademarks owned by CREA and identify the services rendered by members of CREA. REM complies fully with the CREA’s Trademark Policy (section 5.3.2.6.1).

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T

he Competition Tribunal appeal hearing between The Commissioner of Competition and The Toronto Real Estate Board (TREB) was held in the Federal Court of Appeal in December, with TREB once again arguing that clients’ privacy rights will be breached if certain data is exposed on the Internet on virtual office websites (VOWs).

In particular, sold information – a home’s previous sale prices – was at the centre of the litigation, with lead defence council William Sasso arguing that privacy isn’t a business consideration but a legal one.

“One doesn’t balance privacy rights, one recognizes privacy rights,” he told the three-justice panel led by Justice Marc Nadon.

He said that it is a long-standing TREB policy that sold data is only to be shared member-tomember and with clients in person, by fax or email.

The Competition Tribunal ruling determined VOWs could conceivably save buyers and sellers money, but Sasso argued the Competition Bureau argued no such thing, rendering the point moot.

“TREB has been consistent with what it has historically done with the information it has,” he said. “TREB members understand what they can and cannot do with the information they have at their disposal.”

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8 REM JANUARY 2017

Cliff Iverson reflects on tumultuous year

CREA’s president talks about the image of Realtors and increasing professionalism, board and association mergers and the government’s new mortgage rules. his has been perhaps the most tumultuous year ever for organized real estate in Canada.

T

industry is the negative image of Realtors. What is CREA doing about that?

Record setting sales and prices in Vancouver led to dozens of negative headlines about the shady practices of real estate salespeople, ultimately resulting in the industry’s loss of self-regulation in that province. A bid to amalgamate B.C. real estate boards and the provincial association was rejected by members.

Iverson: We’ve been watching the situation closely and we certainly don’t endorse the conduct of any of the Realtors who have been deemed as bad apples in their marketplace. We have our Realtor Code in place but every province has their own regulatory regime and it’s up to the provincial associations and local boards to enforce the rules. We’re here to be a resource if any of these local boards or associations require our assistance.

The country’s other hot real estate market, Southern Ontario, saw the Toronto Real Estate Board lose and then appeal its long-running battle with the Competition Bureau.

In Alberta, two major real estate brokerages closed, raising questions about the sustainability of the traditional real estate brokerage model in a softer market.

In Ottawa, a nervous government implemented new regulations for insured mortgages in an effort to slow down the Vancouver and Toronto markets – and came under fire from Realtors in places like Saskatoon, where the local real estate association says the new regulations have seriously hurt would-be home buyers.

Despite the controversy and questions facing the industry, the Canadian Real Estate Association’s membership is at an all-time high – 117,188 members at last count.

This year’s CREA president is Cliff Iverson, a Realtor at Re/ Max Crown Real Estate North in Regina. He has been in the industry since 1978 and has spent most of his career volunteering in organized real estate at the local, provincial and federal levels.

Recently REM editor Jim Adair interviewed Iverson, along with CREA CEO Gary Simonsen.

REM: At REM we are conducting a survey of readers, and their main concern about the

REM: Should CREA set some kind of national standards or exams for new Realtors?

Simonsen: At one point we had a requirement that everyone had to take a course on the Realtor Code of Ethics, but there were many jurisdictions that were duplicating that.

A few months ago we started a Realtor Code Task Force and we are reviewing the effectiveness of the Realtor Code today. What is the relevance of the code, is there something that we could or should be doing to enhance its effectiveness?

Iverson: We would encourage dialogue between the various provincial associations to see how they can increase professionalism through the education and training a Realtor receives. Then you get into the area of the broker’s responsibility. I think there could be more dialogue between the provinces when instituting training for their Realtors.

REM: Do you think we will see more proposals for board and association amalgamations like the one in B.C.?

Iverson: In my home province of Saskatchewan there is a task force that is looking at the same thing. More boards and associations are sharing services

Cliff Iverson (Photo: Ryan Parent)

such as MLS systems. Changes like this are not bottom down, they are coming from the grass roots. We could be considered a resource if people are looking at amalgamations.

Simonsen: Our Futures Project looked at this a few years back. Folks are looking at ways to improve their efficiency and effectiveness, whether it is shared services or board mergers.

There are a number of boards in Ontario that have come together to create a common MLS system and I believe there are other boards looking at participating in some of those ventures.

REM: In the area of government relations, what is CREA working on?

Iverson: One of the major concerns is the change to the mortgage rules. We are monitoring what is happening in the local marketplaces and we are also affiliating with a number of other organizations to see what kind of effect (the rules) are going to have on the consumer.

How many first-time buyers may step back from buying a home because of the changes that were announced?

Simonsen: When (the government) makes these

changes, which are obviously being impacted by larger markets, what may serve in one area may have negative effects in other marketplaces. Real estate is local.

We want to make sure there is some sensitivity to that.

There is also a lot of speculation in the B.C. market about the impact of out of country buyers and there’s really a lack of data about it. So we think there’s an opportunity to work with other organizations to assess what information is available and to provide as much information as possible to assist the federal government in making these decisions, so they are not just based on speculation.

Iverson: We are also talking to them about the Home Buyer’s Plan – tying it to inflation and life changes such as a move or employment, marriage breakdown, life changes. The Liberals and the Conservatives both had it in their election platforms but it has not occurred yet.

REM: If TREB ultimately loses the case with the Competition Bureau, there are a lot of third parties that are ready to pounce on the newly released data. How will this impact Realtor.ca?

Iverson: Realtor.ca is the

No. 1 site in Canada and we had a record month this year, with 23,400,000 visitors. We continue to work on it and provide enhancements.

Simonsen: We think we have done a good job in sustaining Realtor.ca. But one of the tools we have is that we make information available to thirdparty sites.

REM: On a personal level, how have you enjoyed being president this year?

Iverson: It has been an interesting year, to say the least.

Would I do it again? In a minute.

Absolutely.

I’ve been very well received across the country. One of my goals has been to continue to build communications with members through the CREA Open Houses that we do.

One of the most fulfilling moments I get as president is when somebody comes up to me and says, “CREA gets it.”

Our communication is so much better now. Up until January of 2014 we were not able to communicate directly with the members. Now it’s great when people come up and say we are doing a good job. REM

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10 REM JANUARY 2017

CREA’s ad campaign includes tea, pop-up event

Surveys have found that consumers are more likely to choose a Realtor after seeing the TV commercials than they were before, says Barb Sukkau, chair of CREA’s national advertising campaign committee. By Danny Kucharsky

Realtor.ca/NoRegrets contains testimonials from people who had problems because they didn’t hire a Realtor.

The Real Tea campaign included a one-day pop-up event on King Street West in downtown Toronto.

tongue-in-cheek advertising campaign by the Canadian Real Estate Association is offering relief in the form of tea to consumers who are considering not using a Realtor to buy or sell a home.

three 20-second animated videos on Facebook and Instagram. The Real Tea website will be up until at least the end of the year.

monials from people who have experienced problems by not hiring a Realtor to buy or sell their home.

Consumers can obtain two free 20 – 40 g sample bags of their favourite Real Tea blends (shipping costs of about $8 not included).

“When a Realtor is saying, ‘You have to use a Realtor,’ that’s one thing, but when we’ve actually got consumers who have had bad experiences saying, ‘Gee, I wish I had used a Realtor,’ that’s really powerful,” Sukkau says.

A

CREA’s Real Tea campaign aims to provide a dose of reality to people who go solo by offering six “delicious blends to soothe the woes of not using a Realtor” during the home buying and selling process.

Available at real-tea.ca, the teas have names like Negotiation Nerve-Ana (“Find serenity and calm before another battle with your buyer”), Steeped Price (“Put how much you overpaid out of your mind”) and Property PowerUp (“Add some pop to the prep for your millionth open house”).

Designed by Pluck Tea, the blends were formulated to match their names.

“We specifically designed the tea to sooth the stresses that come along with navigating the real estate market without a Realtor,” says CREA board member Barb Sukkau, the 20162017 chair of CREA’s national advertising campaign committee.

“We’re always trying to think of new creative ways to promote

using a Realtor. We thought this was a unique idea.”

The campaign talks about things that would make DIYers feel stressful or uncomfortable, from holding multiple open houses to endless paperwork, she says.

It aims to convince people who are on the fence about using a Realtor about the potential pitfalls of not using one, adds Lance Martin, executive creative director of Union, the advertising agency that created the campaign.

“With the do-it-yourself culture, everyone thinks they can sort of watch a YouTube video and do everything themselves,” he says. “There are a lot of risks, paperwork and legal things you might not be aware of that might get you into trouble if you don’t use a professional.”

CREA’s ad campaigns for the last several years have focused on reinforcing the importance of using a Realtor when buying or selling real estate, says Sukkau, who is a sales rep at Royal LePage Niagara Real Estate Centre in St. Catharines, Ont. The Real Tea campaign is an extension of CREA’s larger

No Regrets campaign of the last few years, which includes a TV spot of a couple who did not use a Realtor and buy a house in a neighbourhood dominated by a biker gang. An older spot shows a police SWAT team raiding a house in the middle of the night – a misunderstanding that a Realtor may have helped to avoid.

The ads have won awards from the Canadian Marketing Association, Advertising & Design Club of Canada and Marketing Magazine.

More importantly, surveys have found that consumers are more likely to choose a Realtor after seeing the TV commercials than they were before, Sukkau says. “We’re moving the needle in the right direction. We just want to make sure that the Realtor is always front and centre, top-of-mind.”

The tea “reinforces the message that there are risks associated with not using a Realtor,” says Kimberlee Welch, group account director at Union.

“It provides you with a temporary relief but it won’t provide you with long-term relief, which you will get if you use a Realtor.”

The digital campaign includes

The website notes that “if somehow a cup of tea doesn’t solve all of your real estate problems, consult a Realtor who has the expertise the largest transaction of your life deserves.”

The Real Tea campaign also included a one-day pop-up event in late October on King Street West in downtown Toronto.

During what turned out to be a blustery day, 620 cups of steeped tea were served and 130 packages of tea were handed out.

The pop-up was covered by several local lifestyle bloggers and news sites, and Sukkau was interviewed by The Huffington Post on Facebook Live.

Sukkau, who was at the popup all day, says people told her, “I can’t believe anybody would not use a Realtor.”

In addition, as part of the No Regrets campaign, Realtor. ca/NoRegrets contains testi-

CREA has an annual budget of about $7 million for advertising, with most of the spend going toward media buying.

Quebec boards do their own advertising and receive a reduction in CREA dues as a result.

Sukkau would not reveal CREA’s advertising plan for next year but is confident that “it’s going to be fabulous.” Ideas from the ad agency were reviewed at the national ad campaign committee and were recently tested by consumers and Realtors at full-day events in Calgary and Toronto.

“I really think the national ad campaign overall is doing its job,” she says. “The consumer and the public are paying attention.” REM

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12 REM JANUARY 2017

Don’t forget the new home HST rebate

By Mark Weisleder

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nd of year usually means gathering up all of your receipts and making sure you take all of your permitted tax deductions. If you or your clients have purchased a new home or condominium in the past two years, you may have an HST rebate coming to you. Here’s why: If you moved in on closing, no worries, the HST rebate likely went to the builder.

When you buy a new home or condominium from a builder, the HST is built into the price, provided you or a close relative moves into the property on closing. When that happens, the price stays the same and the HST rebate, usually at $24,000, goes to the builder on closing. This is one of the matters I will discuss during my review of a new home agreement with my buyer clients.

If you rented your unit on closing, or on occupancy, you likely paid extra HST on closing.

If you rented out your new home or condominium, then you likely were not credited with the HST rebate on final closing and ended up paying the builder an extra amount of HST on closing, again, usually close to $24,000.

The good news is that as long as you signed a one year lease, you can apply for this full amount after closing, by making an application to the Canada Revenue Agency.

It is my practice to offer this service to any of my own buyer clients who have to pay this extra HST on closing. Still, I have seen many cases where buyers have forgotten to make this application, for various reasons. For example, when I gave a recent speech at a

real estate brokerage about this, one of the agents came up to me and indicated that they had purchased a condominium a year ago and did not know about the rebate. I was able to assist them in obtaining the $24,000 HST rebate.

Unfortunately, a buyer only has two years from the date of closing to bring this application or they forfeit the HST rebate.

Check your records and advise clients to check their own records to see if this applies to them. It is a great way to re-connect with past clients; you may be saving them a lot of money.

HST rebates also apply if you substantially build your own home.

Even when you build your own home and pay contractors yourself, you may still be eligible for a portion of the HST rebate, based on the HST you paid to the contractors, so keep all of your receipts.

In Ontario, Tarion delay payments must be made within one year of taking possession or ownership. When you buy a new home or condominium, the builder must provide a firm or final closing date, for either taking ownership of a home or occupation of a condominium. If the final date is not met, the home or condo owner likely has a claim of $150 for every day that the firm date is delayed up to a maximum of $7,500. The claim is made to Tarion after you take ownership or possession, as the case may be. But there is a oneyear limit on making the claim.

Other provinces have similar legislation, penalties and time deadlines, so speak to a lawyer in your province to make sure.

A company I use to assist with all types of rebate claims is www.rebate4u.ca.

Mark Weisleder is a partner, author and speaker at the law firm Real Estate Lawyers.ca LLP. Contact him at mark@realestatelawyers.ca or toll free at 1-888-876-5529. REM

14 REM JANUARY 2017

In search of a winning culture in a brokerage The first sign of whether the staff is following the leader’s purpose is how you are greeted by the receptionist.

By Don Kottick

W

hen most salespeople go into a real estate brokerage for their first interview, they will usually hear from the manager/owner that “our brokerage is unique because we have a great culture”. Everyone talks about a great culture, everyone says that they possess it, but in reality very few brokerages deliver.

The challenge comes when you try to define a winning culture, because it has a subjective meaning to many.

In order to have a winning or successful culture, first you must have a great leader. This is the key individual who sets the purpose of the organization and ensures the vision is communicated and followed throughout the brokerage.

The first sign of whether the staff is following the leader’s pur-

John Lusink

pose is how you are greeted by the receptionist. If she/he is texting away, never looks up and grumbles, “Have a seat, someone will be out in sec,” you have your first strike against the company. If you walk in and are greeted with a friendly smile, a nice hello and are offered a water or coffee, you have your first checkmark.

Remember, this receptionist is the front line person that your clients will meet if they come to the office. The same test can apply to how the telephones are answered when you call in. Is it an offshore call centre or a friendly engaging receptionist who is on site?

The next test comes during the actual interview phrase of your due diligence. John Lusink, vice president at Chestnut Park Real Estate in Toronto, says, “a good leader rarely uses the ‘I’ word when talking. The use of the word ‘we’ signifies that the manager values the

Debra Bain

Justin Risi

salespeople and the staff.”

Even if the manager could take personal credit for an initiative, a good manager does not feel the need to promote themselves. They are comfortable with their own egos and buy in to the concept of a cohesive team.

How a manager interacts with support staff during an interview is also an indication of how they will support you. Take notice if the manager thanks the employee for serving coffee or water or if they just ignore the staff member. Debra Bain, managing partner at Re/Max Hallmark in Toronto says, “When we hire a salesperson, conversely, we watch how the interviewee treats our staff. If they are rude or not appreciative of our team member, this does not bode well for the candidate.”

Another test of the winning culture is the responsiveness of the management team. If you call the

Costa Poulopoulos

Kevin Skipworth

manager, monitor how quickly they respond to your calls or messages. If it takes two days to respond, now imagine you are in desperate need of guidance on a deal and you have a condition that is about to expire. A winning culture always has a responsive management team. Justin Risi, executive vice president at Royal LePage Your Community in Toronto says, “We as a management team pride ourselves on our responsiveness and our ability to correctly answer and resolve problems. In our business, time is always of the essence.”

The real estate community is very small and its grapevine is even smaller. Costa Poulopoulos, president of StreetCity Realty in London, Ont. says, “Realtors love to talk and a real estate brokerage with a great culture will have its Realtors as its biggest recruiters.” If the salespeople are not happy, they become like the Faberge shampoo commercial in the ’80s: “They told two friends, then two more friends, then so on and so on.”

Poulopoulos says, “We encourage new recruits to talk to our Realtors and hear it first-hand what it is like to work with us.”

Kevin Skipworth, managing partner of Dexter Associates

Realty in Vancouver says, “We pride ourselves because we invest back into our Realtors on many different levels. We do this through our comprehensive training, management support and serving up a collaborative and fun work environment.”

He adds: “We are not afraid to part company if an individual is not a team player and not willing to be part of our winning culture.

A bad member of the team can be cancerous, so a good leader must be willing to see the relationship end, even if the individual is a top producer.”

A winning culture is really a win for all involved. That includes the salespeople, the staff, the management and the brokerage. The real estate industry is rapidly becoming very polarized and we will eventually see some casualties within the brokerage community.

On one end of spectrum, we will have the successful brokerages that can truly deliver a winning culture.

On the other end may be the discount brokerages where they only care if the monthly fee clears the bank account. In the highly competitive environment that we find ourselves in, the winning culture will most undoubtedly increase your probability of being a winning salesperson.

Don Kottick, FRI, is executive vice president, corporate development for Peerage Realty Partners. Kottick is currently director at large for the Toronto Real Estate Board, director for FIABCI and national president of the Real Estate Institute of Canada.

The inspection is incredibly thorough. The staff were very knowledgeable and explained everything in detail. The inspector also provided easy tips and instructions for how homeowners can mitigate costly repairs by making cheaper investments and keeping on top of home maintenance. At the end of the inspection, they also provided a binder which includes easy doit-yourself guides for renovations and a tracking sheet to monitor things for damage. I highly recommend AmeriSpec!

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CANADA’S Real Estate Company Nobody knows Canadian real estate like Royal LePage.

royallepage.ca/joinus This is not intended as a solicitation of any sales representative or broker that is currently under contract. All offices are independently owned and operated, except those marked as “Royal LePage Real Estate Services Ltd., Brokerage”, “Royal LePage West Real Estate Services” and “Royal LePage Sussex”. Any copying, reproduction, distribution or other use of these materials is prohibited. ©2017 Brookfield Real Estate Services Manager Limited. All rights reserved.

18 REM JANUARY 2017

The mystery of the disappearing sales rep

By Glenn McQueenie ccording to data from the Toronto Real Estate Board, during the last 12 months, 62 per cent of individual (active) agents sold six homes or fewer. That number has increased to 78 per cent during the past six months! Six deals a year at an average commission of $11,000 equals $66,000 in gross commission income. So 78 per cent of active agents make, after splits, fees, deduction and expenses, between $30,000 and $40,000 a year before taxes. Which is about the same pay scale as a low-paying white collar job.

Previously, 17 per cent of active agents did between 10 and 25 deals (enough to survive and stay in business). That number has now

A

dropped to only nine per cent! So nine per cent of individual agents make enough money to stay in the business. How do the rest of them survive?

An even deeper mystery is the rapid increase in the number of transactions that big real estate teams do. A few years ago, if a team did 100 transactions, they were at the top of their field. Now we see teams easily doing 250 to 800 transactions.

There are a couple of key explanations for this dramatic shift.

• There are flat-out too many agents chasing a fixed amount of commission.

• When every agent is saying the same thing on a listing presentation (“I am a great negotiator, I have my own stager, my feature sheets are the best, my marketing is the best, I will put your property on 10 million websites and social

media platforms, I will do open houses…”) the seller is faced with the only reasonable choice – and that is to pick the agent with the lowest commission. This is a double whammy for individual generalist agents. They are doing fewer transactions and making less money per transaction.

I believe there are a few real reasons for this: 1) The generalist agent is perceived to have little or no value to the consumer. When you try to be everything to everybody, you end up being nothing to nobody and your perceived value drops.

2) The only agents thriving right now are those who specialize in one niche market. That may be geographic, demographic or psycho-graphic (why people move, such as seniors downsizing, investors, parents with young kids, divorce, death).

3) Teams have been built on a

model of niche specialists within the team. Inside salespeople just convert leads, buyer agents only show property, rental agents do only rental, customer service reps only work on bringing the transaction to closing.

The only way to succeed and win at this game is to bring your “factory-installed” unique abilities and natural strengths to a target market and only work with people who you really love and want to be a hero to.

This requires you to get into a niche as quickly as possible or face the prospect of doing fewer deals, for lower commissions.

I have written a new book, now available as a free download, that is a rallying call to the entire real estate industry. Agents have become a “commodity”, as there are just too many agents chasing deals. The consumer has no real ability to tell a new agent from a

good or great agent.

My book will help you focus them on picking one niche market. All you have to do is bring your natural strengths and unique abilities to a target market and work with only happy clients.

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Glenn McQueenie is CEO and founder of Keller Williams Referred Realty and Keller Williams Referred Urban Realty in Toronto. He was licensed as a full-time Realtor in 1989. Throughout his career, he has sold thousands of homes and built a business that is 98 per cent repeat and referral. He is the author of two books and coaches, teaches and mentors agents across North America.

REM

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20 REM JANUARY 2017

THE GUEST COLUMN

By Tim Syrianos

I

just finished an office meeting with most of our agents in attendance. I always look forward to discussing the many hot topics and trends that are evolving in the marketplace.

Being in a room together also creates the synergy and feedback that is needed compared to one on one conversation.

I had a feeling today’s meeting would display emotion and even be somewhat controversial and that’s okay. We welcome open dialogue that always pushes us to think, feel and take action on what’s best for our business and industry. With so much in the media, it wasn’t surprising that the

Ethics and the ‘Coming Soon’ sign theme throughout the meeting always circled back to ethics and integrity in the field.

Make no mistake; I am of the sincere belief that most in our industry are hard working and professional individuals. They care about their business, their clients and their reputation. It’s just the unfortunate reality that in today’s society the bad is what tarnishes the shiny many.

I share these comments often: Policies are made when brains run out and you can’t teach integrity and/or ethics. At this stage of our life, and especially with so much money at stake, integrity and ethics are either within you or are not. I believe that even though it would be a great start to add many more courses for entry to our industry and add more “in class” continuing education to maintain a license, this will still not solve the challenges faced with the unethical people that exist.

There is no question the time is now to welcome rules and penalties to punish bad behaviour so

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intensely that offenders simply can’t operate in our industry any more. This includes making the brokers more accountable and responsible with who their hire and how they manage. Just hiring bodies is a tremendous fail and an approach that we will never be party to.

Sadly, it is also very possible that the current penalty amounts may have become the “cost of doing business” for some and this is completely unacceptable. Any comments that others are not playing by the same rules is not an excuse. If we do not take responsibility for our actions, the way we operate and are regulated will look very different very fast.

I would be remiss if I didn’t provide an example from our meeting that was a hot button. The “Coming Soon” sign.

While this is a smart idea to expose the property while being prepared for sale, witnessing more and more properties being posted to MLS on the first day as “sold” is concerning.

This marketing approach is: 1. Not intended to get more leads 2. Not intended to show the property to your clients or others 3. Not intended to double end the property.

A “Coming Soon” property is in essence an exclusive listing and you are advertising that it will be on MLS within a reasonable time period for all to see. Being involved in any of the above three examples defeats what the intent is and creates a bad impression that infuriates the public and agents.

If I wasn’t a Realtor and saw a “Coming Soon” sign, I would leave and not bother calling until the sign was removed or I saw it on MLS. If a client has been advised of the differences, would entertain showing the property and would further entertain offers beforehand, simply remove the “Coming Soon” sign.

Let’s play by the rules that we advertise and promote. Let’s educate and lead the consumer about how our industry works. Let’s not

If we do not take responsibility for our actions, the way we operate and are regulated will look very different very fast. ever provide a reason for a media story.

Otherwise, even more new rules will be Coming Soon!

Tim Syrianos is the broker of record and owner of Re/Max Ultimate in Toronto, with close 260 Realtors. He is also the president-elect of the Toronto Real Estate Board. He started his real estate career at the age of 19, some 27 years ago. Email tim@remaxultimate.com or phone 416-487-5131. REM

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22 REM JANUARY 2017

The open house, part 3: Limited entry

By Ross Wilson “I keep my ideals because in spite of everything, I still believe that people are good at heart.” – Anne Frank ver the years, I’d occasionally drop into open houses held by my peers, typically to inspect the property on behalf of a buyer client. An added benefit of such spontaneous visits, though, was the opportunity to witness firsthand the protocol (or lack thereof) and professional behaviour (or lack thereof) of many attending sales reps.

Quite often I was appalled by the pandemonium and total lack of security. While the solitary host stood steadfast in, say, the kitchen, numerous visitors were scattered pell-mell throughout the house, left to peruse – completely unat-

O

tended – through bathrooms, closets and potentially, the homeowner’s personal items. Unfortunately, I’ve found such practice to be fairly common.

To avoid this potential nightmare violation of trust, you might want to consider having a co-host to share the responsibility. Or have a sign ready to display in the front door announcing that you’re showing the property, asking arrivals to await your greeting – and lock the door. Now, this isn’t because you believe everybody is dishonest.

Since it’s supposed to be an open house, though, this policy may seem extreme. You may lose some lookers. However, you should focus your undivided attention on the interested prospects already inside.

If the new arrivals are sincerely interested, they’ll wait for you. You could, nevertheless, briefly break away from your presentation to greet and escort them to the living

®

room to wait for an accompanied tour. A slide show of the subject and other homes could be playing on the TV. Or you could add a few words on your “busy showing” notice, welcoming them to wander through the garden or enjoy a walk around the block to investigate the immediate neighbourhood. Or simply relax in some comfy chairs on the porch to get a feel for the place while perusing strategically placed feature sheets. Weather permitting, as a welcoming gesture, have a closed thermos of coffee or lemonade with glasses for them.

Leave a covered dish of cookies to sweeten them up. If the visitor is unable to wait, have a sign-in list at hand for them to request an emailed brochure, virtual tour or feature sheet, or a call to arrange an exclusive viewing appointment.

And follow up with them!

The reason for restricting the

number of visitors at any one time is two-fold – security and opportunity. Security dictates that you avoid having countless strangers wandering unaccompanied through your client’s home. I believe all people are basically honest, but one shouldn’t gamble with another’s property.

Secondly, curiosity is a powerful motivator. You want the chance to bond with your guests and that won’t happen if you station yourself in the kitchen while everyone rambles alone around the house.

They’ll probably notice the main features, but miss small innovative elements and leave without the advantage of your explanation of the benefits of those features. Just because it’s an open house doesn’t mean you don’t properly show it.

Use your presentation skills. Your priority is to sell your client’s property, but you can also grow your business.

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How does one connect with a prospect? Aside from being professional, skilful, charming, courteous, curious and genuinely considerate, it helps to be patient, persevering, proficient and prepared.

When someone arrives, greet them warmly at the front door.

Most people are not completely comfortable walking into someone else’s home. They may ring the bell and await your answer or may enter on their own. Either way, if you’re not currently showing another party, ensure that you arrive in the foyer immediately to welcome them. Yes – haul your ass out of that restful easy chair and enthusiastically do your job.

Introduce yourself by first name. Offer your hand and most importantly, make a point to remember their names – including those of the kids. A person’s name is music to their ears. It’s personal.

The fact that you made the effort to remember may impress your guests. And using the kid’s names will impress the parents even more.

You want them to like you. They want to know you care. Illogical as it may seem, many buyers and sellers make their hiring decisions based on the likeability factor.

Often, it doesn’t matter if you’re a top agent or the ink on your registration certificate is still wet. If they don’t like you, they won’t hire you.

The thing to remember is that it’s your job to not only hold an effective open house in your client’s home, but to protect it too.

Would you want strangers strolling through your own home unattended? Think about the Golden Rule.

“Charm is a way of getting the answer yes without asking a clear question.” — Albert Camus.

Ross Wilson, broker with iPro Realty, has extensive experience as a brokerage owner, manager, trainer and mentor. His new book, The Happy Agent – Finding Harmony with a Thriving Realty Career and an Enriched Personal Life is available where print and e-books are sold, including the TREB, BREB, RAHB and OMDREB stores. Visit RealtyREM Voice.com.

REM JANUARY 2017 23

The Most Profitable Way to Work with Buyers So You Get Compensated For Your Time — by Craig Proctor (former #1 RE/MAX agent in Canada)

The following is paid, promotional content.

Traditional wisdom in the real estate industry says that if you want to succeed in real estate, you must list to last. This mind set springs from the fact that, historically, working with buyers was very much a hit and miss situation. Because there was no such thing as buyer agency, it was quite common for agents to spend hours and hours driving buyers from house to house to help them find a home, only to have these buyer prospects find a home through another agent. In too many cases, all your hard work with Mr. & Mrs. Buyer would net you nothing.

The fault for this inequity falls on the shoulders of both agents and buyers. To begin with, choosing homes for buyers to look at really used to be a hit and miss game (and still is for many agents.) It’s very rare for agents to have a real system for finding the right home for a buyer. In most cases, agents scan through MLS listings, pick out six to eight homes which seem to represent a reasonable fit with what they think the buyer is looking for, drive them around to three or four of these homes, and then try to sell the buyer one of them.

I’m sure you can see why this method doesn’t achieve high buyer loyalty. As with many traditional real estate practices used by most agents, this manner of working with buyers doesn’t focus on the buyer’s needs, but rather on the agent’s subjective interpretation of these needs (or even the agent’s self-interest.) No wonder buyers

freely and guiltlessly use and abuse the services of several real estate agents. It was the only way they could be sure of getting a broad enough perspective of what’s on the market.

These days, a quick google search makes it easy for buyers to exclude agents from their initial search process. Vast choice and all the information they could ever want about available listings is at their fingertips, solidifying the impression that agents themselves are simply commodities they can use and abuse if they happen to come across a home they want to look at.

Nevertheless, even if this motivation on the buyer’s part is understandable, every real estate agent knows the feeling of being taken advantage of by a buyer. Because they didn’t have to pay for your services – either with money or their loyalty – they didn’t value the time you were giving them. It is for this reason that working with buyers for the average agent is so unproductive.

But here’s an important truth: The best way to get listings is to get a seller prospect to respond as a buyer, not as a seller. In fact, all of us work with buyers as a normal and expected flip side of working with sellers. None of you would work with a seller without a contract. I can’t think of a single reason why the situation should be any different with buyers. You all know that helping someone find the right home can be a time-consuming process. Why would you give your time away? Nevertheless, buyer agency still seems to be a foreign concept to many.

For other agents, it’s not a matter of convincing you of the value of getting buyers signed to a Buyers’ agreement, it’s just that you don’t know how to do it. In other words, you don’t have a systematic approach.

Done right, however, buyers actually represent an easier, less expensive, more predictable and steadier client base than sellers do.

Let’s look at the facts. When you list a seller’s house, you make a contractual promise to this seller that you will effectively market their property, and this requires a substantial commitment of time and out-of-your-pocket money.

The longer this seller’s home is on the market, the more money

you will have to spend to market it, and if it doesn’t sell, chances are you’ll never see a dollar because the seller will usually blame the nonactivity on you and not re-list with you. Even if you have a high success ratio, there will always be the odd listing that expires. When you sign a buyer to contract, you have NO out-of-pocket costs. You’re not on the hook for advertising or promotion of any sort. Your only contractual obligation is to help them find a home.

If you do not have a system for working with buyers, including a mechanism that ensures your compensation, you’re cheating yourself, and sending a clear message to your buyers that your time is not worth

anything. You’re giving them permission to abuse you. I can show you how to change this.

In fact, if you don’t have a clear, detailed business system (key word, system) that you are using to move methodically to your goals…a plan you could show a banker or investor or new partner, why wouldn’t you examine my system — free? For a limited time, you can have a “sneak peek” at what your real estate business could look like by attending my upcoming Free Discovery Day (details below).

I will openly share with you how I became Canada’s top agent, and exactly what to do to be a SuperSuccessful Real Estate agent in Canada.

Craig Proctor invented his real estate success system during his own, highly successful 22 year Real Estate career right here in Canada. While an active agent (not a broker), Craig consistently sold over 500 homes a year for annual GCI of almost $4 Million. In fact, for 6 years straight, no one listed or sold more homes in the Greater Toronto Area than Craig Proctor (Source: TREB Statistics). Experience matters! Craig successfully battled in the trenches just like you. He understands the challenges that real estate agents face and he believes because he better understands you that he can better help you. Known within the industry as Real Estate’s Millionaire-Agent-Maker, Craig has created more Millionaire Agents than any other real estate coach or trainer in the world. To request a free business consultation that will show you how Craig’s system can transform your real estate business into a highly lucrative enterprise that will earn you millions without high lifestyle costs, visit: www.ProctorSystem.com. To learn about Free Half Day Craig Proctor Discovery Days in your area, visit www.ProctorWorkshop.com

24 REM JANUARY 2017

Your strategic business plan, part 2 - Research

By Jim Reid

M

ost of us can “sell” people, but few acquire professional level expertise in the three key marketing research functions: customer research (clients), product research (home types) and market research (units, listing, selling values, days on market, discounts and dates).

These research and analysis projects will be crucial to your strategic thinking processes.

Fortunately the real estate industry can provide the raw data, but to turn it into useful information, you must know how to access, sort and analyze the data. By downloading board data to Excel software, you can acquire the local knowledge and expertise needed to gain confidence and respect with your target market.

SALES COACH

By Bruce Keith

I

n his great little book Anything You Want, author Derek Sivers provides his secret to success.

He explains how he built his company CD Baby to a $100 million enterprise in 10 years by simply finding out “what your customers want and then give it to them!”

Well-known business philosopher and equally successful author Seth Godin offers the clues to finding out what our clients want. Seth says our customers typically want three things: results, thrills and ego.

Godin’s answer is very intriguing. Is it really that simple? Most

The first step is to research your major market because this is the information your clients can easily access. This is essential for listing presentations and during negotiations. But your credibility zooms when you have a binder of actual property sales in your target market for the past five years.

(Binders with property information are much faster than computer screens to communicate local data.)

By inputting old listings data (including local competitor information) on your annual spreadsheets, you see inside your market. It may take 100 hours to set up your target market spreadsheets, but you will use them throughout your career. If targeting a new subdivision, be sure to collect all the builders’ feature sheet materials. Once you can quote selling prices per square foot in your target market, you establish your credentials as the local market professional.

By the way, the competitor

who seems to dominate your area may in fact only own 15 to 20 per cent of the local sales. That leaves 80 to 85 per cent for you!

Defining your target market can start with 13 ways to farm the real estate market: subdivisions, professional networks, condominiums, price range properties, vacant land, investment income, commercial segments, waterfront, new homes, neighbourhoods, rural, recreational and referrals. Choose the market(s) and clients you relate to: education, income groups, cultural groups or special interests.

Don’t expect your target market to produce 100 per cent of your business. You can expect it to produce 25 to 30 per cent. In a great year it may produce 60 per cent, but this is where you will spend 80 per cent of your advertising and promotion budgets over the next five years. At least 30 per cent of your business comes from being in the right place at the right time, but don’t waste earnings (or line of

credit) trying to make things happen in a large random marketplace.

What is also important is to recognize that you will be doing three groups of the eight primary marketing functions. One signs up listing clients, another sells their property and another buys their next property. Each marketing function group is a separate component of your strategic business plan.

With a 20 per cent market share objective, you can calculate the value of your target market’s business and thus how many properties or people you need to interface with in your market on a regular and consistent basis.

Product research is a key subfunction often neglected because your target market is impossibly large to manage. Condos have relatively homogeneous products, as do most new subdivisions, while older areas with infill homes are quite heterogeneous.

If most houses sold recently had

renovations exceeding $50,000, $100,000 or more, you need to know this. Home renovations exceed four per cent of Canada’s GDP and will be close to $75 billion this year. If you don’t visit every open house in your market, you have little information of value to your clients.

By researching and analyzing your target customers (sellers and buyers) and your product mix and your market data, you become perfectly equipped to immediately be recognized as a high integrity real estate consultant, rather than a manipulating commissiondriven salesperson. You then understand your client’s values, aspirations and ambitions and they will reward you accordingly for all your marketing research efforts.

Ring a doorbell!

Jim Reid is a strategic planning consultant and has been a corporate executive, university and college lecturer, business owner, real estate broker and wilderness canoeist.

“Your average Canadian failed entrepreneur, wage slave, divorced former Realtor,” he says. Visit www.lifestylepropertysearches.com or email jimreidcanada@gmail.com.

REM

Just give your clients what they want truths usually are. Let’s look at each of the three “wants” he identified.

1. Results. Sales are all about solving problems/meeting needs. If you solve the customer’s problem, you get the sale. When your product serves a need, your customer will buy.

At the same time, what makes selling real estate really interesting is that sometimes the customer doesn’t know specifically what they want. It is your job to help them see this. Be sure you don’t get the “cart before the horse”. (“Mr. /Mrs. Buyer [or Seller] could you tell me more about what you want? If everything worked out exactly according to plan – what will the end result look like?”)

It is very important that you don’t offer a solution until each of you understands what the end goal looks like. Once that is accomplished and when you provide results, your customer is happy.

2. Thrills. This is a much less

tangible item than results.

Nevertheless, thrills are significant components to the success of the sales process. Thrills can come in many different forms. Are you pleasant to work with? Do you offer an exciting vision? Does the buying decision provide inspiration?

We have all felt the enthusiasm when someone says to us, “I just bought a new car!” Do your customers feel that way when they work with you? Help your customer feel the thrill of buying/selling when they do business with you.

Start by bringing your energy to the process and give them hope.

Hope is all about making the comparison between “here’s what is now and here’s what is possible.”

The end result is that you are in a position to create a great experience for your customer.

3. Ego. Everyone wants to feel important. Clearly this is all about their ego... not yours! Every customer’s ego needs to be acknowl-

edged. Addressing ego is not about being patronizing or fawning over your customer. It’s about treating them with respect, serving their needs, setting reasonable expectations and then meeting those expectations.

Much of the ego issue can be addressed by honing your skills by asking great questions and showing enthusiasm in your performance.

Ask powerful questions such as: “What’s the next step for you?”

“Sounds great… Could you tell me more about that?”

“How important would that be to you?”

“Can I tell you how we could make that happen for you?”

By doing so and paying close attention to their answers, you can really hone in on how to best serve your client’s needs. When you validate the client in this way you are really demonstrating your intention to perform at the highest level.

Start every day with the intention of performing these three functions for all of your customers. You can count on one thing... the more effectively you do so, the more sales you will make. The experience you bring to the sales process is what creates positive memories, repeat business and the all-important referrals.

Make sure you are having fun.

Make sure you are enjoying your profession. If you enjoy it, they will too. It’s all about results, thrills and ego. Just give it to them. No excuses.

Bruce Keith is a leading real estate coach and trainer with over 27 years of experience in the industry, including 16 years as a keynote speaker, author and one-on-one coach. He is a master of “What to Say and How to Say it”.

Inman News recently honoured him as one of the 25 Best Real Estate Coaches in the Business.

BruceKeithResults.com REM

REM JANUARY 2017 25

B.C.’s amalgamation vote Continued from page 3

how the new organization would work. “I really think that in the end, the change presented to the membership didn’t ring strong enough to mandate a move to change.”

Garry Gratton, president of the South Okanagan board, saw the voting day as one of “highs and lows” with his membership surpassing the needed 75 per cent threshold and then seeing the initiative fail at the end.

He says the vote was “oldschool” verses “new school” and that salespeople and brokers who have been in the business for more than 25 years were reluctant to change, while those who entered the industry more recently are not as entrenched in their ways.

“This is the most thoroughly well researched initiative in the history of real estate in B.C. and it is a crying shame that it did not go forward,” he says.

“We are stuck with a 40-yearold business model,” he says, adding that the 11 boards “can’t even decide what kind of coffee to make in the morning.

“It is really paralysis by overanalysis.”

REBGV president Dan Morrison called the six-board vote “bitter sweet” as his members surpassed the needed vote. “I was very pleased Vancouver voted for it and we have a long history of change and progress toward doing things better,” he says. “It was refreshing and uplifting that our members were able to see the future.”

No one in B.C. is calling the initiative a waste of time and energy.

“The phoenix coming out of the ashes is that in the six boards, more than 67 per cent voted for change,” says Gratton. “That is a huge take away. Two-thirds of our membership indicated they are clearly desperate to do something with this system, which is bureaucracy run amok.”

Gratton said the challenge now is to come up with a Plan B. “If we can’t get rid of the old system then we need to overhaul it.”

Wiebe says, “I feel there were a lot of positives that came out of this.” One was the voter turnout – 1,100 of 3,200 members. “That is a strong turnout.” The other positive was organizational.

“There has been talk for many years that we are inefficient and the various boards are not working well together for the benefit of the Realtor. We have started to have more of these difficult discussions and talking about how to create efficiencies, improve our professionalism and how to better organize ourselves,” says Wiebe.

Chilliwack’s Admiraal said the initiative “leaves the lights on and the door open” and will lead to more inter-board engagement in the future. Perhaps, he suggests, the smaller boards may align themselves with larger boards to share services. On other issues, there may be more provincewide collaboration. “I think we are all of the opinion that one MLS would work better for all agents,” he says.

Morrison says that his board of directors will “sit down and discuss where we can go from here” because the membership has voted a mandate for change. There may be opportunity for greater interboard collaboration.

“My personal opinion is that we broke down a lot of barriers and improved relationships between the boards and the BCREA. I learned more about how we as a provincial body operate and other boards operate. There is a sense amongst the boards of wanting to do more collaboration,” says Morrison.

He says the challenge that the structure faces is that in four months, the executive will change and new people will be in charge, perhaps with different ideas.

Achieving continuity can be difficult as the new people do not have the legacy or experience of the previous set of executives.

Nugent thinks more co-operation can happen without the oneentity structure.

“There was a lot of discussion on how centralized services could provide efficiencies and a number of boards indicated that although they wanted to maintain their boards, they were eager to have new systems that would help us to be more efficient and provide better learning opportunities,” he says.

“We learned a ton from this and it is incumbent upon us and the boards to open better services and operate more efficiently. I fully expect that the BCREA and the other boards, looking forward, will try to move to more commonalities,” he says. REM

26 REM JANUARY 2017

past president; Ann Forbes Arndt; Nikola Bucalo; Kathy DellaNebbia; Ralph Frisina; Paul Hammond; Diane Price; Andrew Robertson; Bob Van de Vrande; and Richard Weima.

■ ■ ■

James Craig, a real estate sales representative with CBRE

M

any Realtors across the country are acting on a CREA call to action to let their MPs know why making changes to the Home Buyer’s Plan will make it a more effective vehicle to enable more Canadians to afford their own home. Three Winnipeg Realtors who are advocating for changes to the HBP are Deb Goodfellow, Donna Kirsch and Kourosh Doustshenas.

Goodfellow and Kirsch met with MaryAnn Mihychuk, Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Labour. As a result of their efforts the cabinet minister and Kildonan-St. Paul MP wrote a strong letter to her colleague, Finance Minister Bill Morneau, endorsing both of CREA’s HBP recommendations and welcoming

Limited, has been elected to serve as the Kitchener-Waterloo Association of Realtors’ (KWAR) president.

Craig has been involved in the real estate industry since 2001 when he started in the research department of a local commercial real estate firm, and received his license within one year. He has

worked in the Waterloo Region market since then, focusing on multi-residential and investment sales.

Craig is also a board member of the Waterloo Regional Apartment Management Association and a volunteer with minor hockey.

Joining him as officers of the association are Charlotte Zawada

any question she may have in response to her letter.

Doustshenas worked with Winnipeg North MP Kevin Lamoureux to put together a petition, which Lamoureux introduced in the House of Commons on Nov. 1.

■ ■ ■

Lou Piriano, broker of record of L. Piriano Real Estate Brokerage, has been inducted as president of the Realtors Association of Hamilton-Burlington (RAHB).

Lou succeeds Kim Alvarez and will lead the 3,000-member association in 2017.

Piriano has been a member of the association since 1973. Joining him on RAHB’s 2017 Board of Directors are Jack Loft, presidentelect; Donna Bacher, immediate

Kourosh Doustshenas, right, worked with Winnipeg North MP Kevin Lamoureux to create a petition about making changes to the HBP. Lamoureau introduced the petition in the House of Commons on Nov. 1.

Lou Piriano

James Craig

Announcement Welcome STEPH & ELLE! We are pleased to announce that Stephanie Mitchell and Elsbeth Potvin of the Right At Home Realty, STEPH & ELLE Team, have joined RE/MAX Rouge River Realty Ltd.!

STEPH & ELLE are ranked within the top 1% of salespeople at the Toronto Real Estate Board, and placed #1 for team units sold at their previous Company’s Durham branch in 2015, and 2016 year to date.

STEPH & ELLE have been consistently striving to meet and exceed their clients real estate needs in Durham Region and surrounding areas. Their decision to join RE/MAX was obvious, as now they are part of the most recognized Real Estate brand in the world, with one of the eastern GTA’s most well-known brokerages. This means more brand recognition locally and globally, with a full-service operations team helping to increase productivity and efficiency.

Rick Eisert

Kim Gazo

The Ottawa Real Estate Board’s new Board of Directors.

Prior to officially becoming the Ontario Real Estate Association’s CEO, Tim Hudak visited the Sarnia Lambton Real Estate Board office on Nov. 23 and met with president elect Steve Park, president Jane Baker and EO Dave Burke.

Trent Wilkins, president of Greater Moncton Realtors du Grand Moncton with Mary O’Donnell from Moncton Headstart.

Welcome STEPH & ELLE! Congratulations on your decision, and we are excited to help you grow!

Stephanie Mitchell & Elsbeth Potvin Sales Representatives

905 655-8808

Rouge River Realty Ltd. 372 Taunton Rd #7 Whitby, ON

If you are interested in ownership opportunities with RE/MAX, the largest most productive real estate brand, contact Jennifer Dominey at 1-647-519-7735 to arrange your confidential meeting, or visit remaxintegra.com.

From left: Realtors Wanda Smith and Margie Lynch, who is also a St. John Ambulance volunteer; Taffy, a Scottish terrier; ASR CEO Gord Archibald; Realtors Lane Bogehean and Ian Johnston; and St. John Ambulance director of community services Ashley Balysky.

The Vancouver Island Real Estate Board partnered with Steve Marshall Ford Lincoln to raise $7,500 for the B.C. SPCA Nanaimo & District Branch.

REM JANUARY 2017 27

of Re/Max Twin City Realty as past president, Tony Schmidt of Howie Schmidt Realty as first vice president, Brian Santos of Peak Realty as second vice-president and EO Bill Duce. New to the board of directors this year is Nicole Pohl of Re/Max Twin City Realty.

Returning as directors are Jane Gardner of Royal LePage Wolle Realty, Eric Klimstra of Royal LePage Grand Valley Realty, Colleen Koehler of Re/Max Twin City Realty, David McIntyre of McIntyre Real Estate Services and Ginger Whitney of Whitney & Company Realty.

■ ■ ■

The Ottawa Real Estate Board, the city’s largest trade association with over 3,100 sales representatives and brokers, has elected a new Board of Directors.

The new executive consists of president Rick Eisert, past president Shane Silva, president elect Ralph Shaw and vice president Dwight Delahunt.

Eisert has been a member of OREB for 34 years and has served on numerous committees and task forces since 1994.

Joining Eisert are Rachel Hammer, Dominique Milne, Anna Russell and Debra Wright, who are completing the second year of their two-year term as directors, along with newly elected and appointed directors David Armstrong, Deborah Burgoyne, Andrew Ouellette, Anne Scharf and Richard Smith (chair of the commercial services division).

“As the Board of Directors, it is our responsibility to keep our focus on the horizon,” says Eisert.

“The job of the board is to set the strategic plan, to monitor the progress of that plan and to always be on the lookout for potential threats. I look forward to helping ensure that our organization remains a strong and productive voice in our community.”

■ ■ ■

Kim Gazo is the 2017 president of the Windsor-Essex County Association of Realtors (WECAR), the second oldest real estate association in Canada. She brings years of experience (volunteering with the association and in the community) to the position.

Gazo has been a licensed Realtor for over 13 years and a member of the directorate for at

least half of her real estate career.

She is serving her second term as president.

For the past 12 years, Gazo has represented large builders selling townhomes to active retirees and others in the Riverside area. She has also been involved with the 100 Mile Peninsula Initiative, which promotes the area as an ideal active retirement community destination.

■ ■ ■

Greater Moncton Realtors du Grand Moncton’s annual Realtors Care Golf Tournament raised a record $25,217 for the Atlantic Wellness Community Centre, Moncton Headstart and the Y.W. Jean E.S. Irving Centre for Women and Children.

“This really touches my heart and is a big deal to me personally.

These three organizations are making a huge difference to families throughout southeastern New Brunswick and as a local Realtor I am thrilled to support these causes,” says association president Trent Wilkins.

All three charities participated in the tournament and helped to increase public awareness of their important work.

“When you see statistics that show 39 youths have committed suicide in a four-year timeframe and that there is a list of over 40 youth waiting for mental health counselling in Greater Moncton, it makes your heart sink,” says Wilkins. “We are happy to support the Atlantic Wellness Community Centre as a long-term partner from 2016-2018. Our youth need support and this organization does great work.”

■ ■ ■

The Vancouver Island Real Estate Board (VIREB) and Steve Marshall Ford Lincoln teamed up to donate $7,500 to the B.C. SPCA Nanaimo and District Branch. The money was raised at a Driven to Give test-drive event held in Nanaimo.

Lincoln Motor Company developed Driven to Give to help charitable organizations and educational institutions. Each test drive taken on event day earns $50 for the chosen charity to a maximum of $7,500. In 2015, the two organizations raised $10,000 for Nanaimo’s Haven Society.

A steady stream of VIREB members supported Driven to Give by test driving a vehicle.

■ ■ ■

Regina Realtors had the opportunity to see how St. John Ambulance is making the most of its $5,000 grant from the Association of Saskatchewan Realtors (ASR) Quality of Life Legacy Fund to support their Therapy Dog Program.

Therapy dogs and their volunteer handlers provide comfort, companionship and joy to people.

They work in a variety of settings, including airports, schools and senior homes.

Realtors joined University of Regina students as they met the dogs. Some students stayed only to get in a few pats, others remained for the full two hours to enjoy the canine companionship. The one constant was the smile on everyone’s face at the sight of the pooches.

“Some of these kids are away from home for the first time.

Having a few minutes with the dogs is comforting to them and may take away some of the home sickness,” says Margie Lynch, St. John Ambulance volunteer handler and Regina Realtor.

■ ■ ■

More than 30,000 Lower

Mainland, B.C. residents will receive blankets and warm clothing this winter thanks to donations collected during the 22nd annual Realtors Care Blanket Drive.

Between Nov. 14 and 21, more than 100 real estate offices served as drop-off locations for donations.

Realtor volunteers then collected, sorted and delivered the donations to local charities.

“The Blanket Drive partners each year with a network of over 50 charities across the Lower Mainland to get the donations to the people who need them the most,” says Dan Morrison, president of the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver.

All donations to the program remain in the community in which they were collected.

The drive is a partnership between the Realtors of the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver, the Fraser Valley Real Estate Board and the Chilliwack and District Real Estate Board and their communities. The program is the largest and longest running blanket drive in British Columbia.

Since it began in 1994, it has helped more than 300,000 people keep warm and dry during the winREM ter months.

Download the BWC app!

Available Tuesday, December 20, 2016 January 26-28, 2017 | Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel | banffwesternconnection.com

28 REM JANUARY 2017

Good Works E

xit Realty Corp.

International has made a $500,000 pledge to Habitat for Humanity International. The announcement, made during the company’s annual international convention, brings the company’s total pledges to $3.5 million.

A portion of every transaction fee collected by Exit Realty is pledged to Habitat. In 2016, the company announced its Habitat for Humanity Dollar-for-Dollar Matching Program. Canadian Exit associates can work with their local Habitat office to raise funds for a specific project or initiative and

submit a proposal to Exit Realty Corp. International for those funds to be matched dollar-for-dollar from the company’s pledged Habitat for Humanity funds. â– â– â–

As the overnight temperatures dip in winter, homeless people in the Lower Mainland will be warmer because of the sleeping bags, blankets, coats and other winter clothing donated and distributed during the 22nd annual Realtors Care Blanket Drive. The initiative relies on hundreds of volunteers including Baljit Singh Sandhu, a sales rep

with Sutton Group - West Coast Realty in Surrey.

Sandhu has served as an area co-ordinator for the Blanket Drive since 2003. In addition to making personal donations and gathering client contributions, he sorts and delivers. This year he delivered items to the Surrey Memorial Hospital and the Surrey Urban Mission with the help of his colleague, Palwinder S. Sidhu. “Our office donated blankets plus 92 bags of clothing including 34 new coats,� says Sandhu. “Realtors and staff in the office donated $860 for the new coats and I negotiated a special discount from the Punjab Cloth House. The Surrey Memorial Hospital was grateful to receive

the coats for their homeless patients, who often need medical care just because of cold. The hospital wants to discharge them with warm clothing to prevent similar health issues.â€? â– â– â–

Freeman Real Estate in Toronto gave away 500 turkeys to those in need recently from the brokerage’s office, which is just four blocks north of where iconic retailer Honest Ed Mirvish started the tradition.

The family-run, boutique realty company has a long-standing reputation for supporting community causes, charities and interests. A free turkey giveaway seemed like a logical next step in the company’s

Counter-clockwise from left: Susanne Lindsay of Sutton Group - Select Realty; Nick Lindsay of the London English Football Club; Bruce Sworik, broker of record; Karen Sworik, co-owner of the brokerage; and Mat Sharpe of the football club.

From left: Palwinder S. Sidhu, Mike Musgrove of the Surrey Urban Mission and Baljit S. Sandhu with some of the donations for the Blanket Drive.

DO YOU KNOW WHAT TO DO IF THIS HAPPENS:

45 years of community involvement, says Elden Freeman, broker of record. “We always admired Ed’s charity and we thought this was a good opportunity for us to keep the tradition going,� he says. Spirit of Math, an after-school mathematics education provider, sponsored a portion of the gobbler giveaway.

For each giveaway Freeman also donated to St. Alban’s Boys & Girls Club, an organization that provides programming for children and youth.

The Annex landmark, Honest Ed’s, gave away free turkeys at Christmastime for 28 years. It changed the tradition this year, deciding to donate turkeys directly to local charities rather than hand

• You have a small claims court matter to deal with? • Your client has a “tenant from hellâ€?, and he/she has to be evicted? • Your client wants to reduce his real estate taxes?

(A way to get more listings: offer this service.)

• You received a letter of complaint from RECO?

The Century 21 Miller Drop Team, from left: Liz Polak, sales rep; Elizabeth Novoa, broker/manager; Deb Lawson, sales rep; Natasha Ramsahai, CityNews host; Bill Miller, broker of record; and Sue Heddle, sales rep.

LET’S GET TOGETHER AND TALK

416.818.6130 In addition, I'm a real estate broker with over 40 years of experience. I can provide you with valuable insight into the law.

Fax: (905) 882-6618 Website: avirosen.ca Email: avi@avirosen.ca

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From left, Royal LePage Frank Real Estate sales reps Sue Driver, Dena Sicard and Jane Thuet.

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At the Holiday House Tour in Collingwood, Ont. from left: Decorator Cathy Staples, Royal LePage Locations North broker of record Desmond von Teichman, and sales reps and hosts Angiline and Rob Dubien.

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Re/Max Realtron staff took part in a Halloween event at Sick Kids in Toronto.

From left: Robyn Pilarski, owner of The Robyn Kay Acting Studio; Tracy Zigelstein, administration manager; Jessica McCarthy, communications officer/administrative assistant; and Maria Yordanova, accounts payable.

Royal LePage South Country Real Estate Services Annual Royal Gala committee members, agents and staff present a cheque to Kelly Mettler, YWCA partnerships manager.

Elden Freeman

REM JANUARY 2017 29

them out to anyone who lined up for one. The retailer at Bathurst and Bloor streets will close in 2017 to make way for condos and commercial space.

If the event is a success this year, Freeman says he intends to carry on the tradition next year. â– â– â–

Royal LePage Frank Real Estate sales representatives Dena Sicard, Jane Thuet and Sue Driver recently hosted Comedy Night for a Cause in support of the Royal LePage Shelter Foundation.

The house was filled at Yuk Yuk’s comedy club in Ajax, Ont. Guests were generous in purchasing 50/50 and raffle tickets. The event raised $4,445, all of which will support Sicard, Thuet and Driver in their upcoming participation in the Iceland Challenge for Shelter, a 100-km trek in Iceland that takes place in July 2017.

Trekkers must each raise at least $5,000 for the Royal LePage Shelter Foundation and cover their own travel costs in order to participate. Funds raised will support Canadian shelters for women and children escaping violence and domestic violence prevention and education programs across the country. â– â– â–

Fifth Avenue Real Estate Marketing, which specializes in the marketing and sales of new residential communities for developers throughout B.C., participated in Night Shift recently. NightShift Street Ministries, a non-profit organization, is on the front lines of outreach and care for the vulnerable, addicted and homeless people in Surrey. It provides hot soup and sandwiches – as well as love, hope and purpose – to people caught in the cycle of poverty and addiction, says the marketing firm.

Scott Brown, Fifth Avenue’s president, and the entire Fifth Avenue team spent the evening serving hot food and passing out clothing and blankets to those who live on the streets.

non-profit organization that distributed 1.8 million kilograms of food to 43,682 food bank users in 2015. “Our office jumped on board with this event and quickly raised $1,300,â€? says Jennifer Morrison, managing associate broker. “The ‘cost’ to attend was one dish to share at the potluck plus either a monetary or food donation for Feed Nova Scotia. It was a huge success. We were one of the top fundraisers! In addition to the cash, we collected 65 kilograms of nutritious, non-perishable food.â€? â– â– â–

Royal LePage South Country Real Estate Services exceeded its goal at the annual Royal Gala, held recently in Lethbridge, Alta.

The event saw 350 guests bid on more than 350 silent auction items to raise a record-breaking $64,760.

All the funds raised will support YWCA Harbour House, a 24-bed crisis shelter for women and children fleeing abusive relationships.

The Royal Gala Committee included chair Manson Kelly, broker Brent Oleksy, Ally Keith, Rebecca Munro, Leslie Hatfield, Sarah Ball and John Guliker.

“The kids were just so excited,� says Realtron’s Jessica McCarthy, who dressed up as Supergirl to give out treats. “We saw a lot of other little superheroes, many of whom asked to get their photos taken with us. There were also a few dressed as doctors and nurses in tiny scrubs.�

At the request of the hospital staff, the treats had no candy.

Realtron created small loot bags containing stickers, toys and colouring books to hand out. All leftover treats were donated to the hospital’s Treasure Box program, where children can choose a reward after undergoing a medical procedure.

â– â– â–

Recently brave individuals from Oakville’s Century 21 Miller Real Estate challenged themselves by rappelling down 32 storeys of the RioCan building at Yonge and Eglinton in Toronto. They were participating in the Easter Seals Drop Zone event to raise funds for children and youth with physical disabilities.

For many years, the brokerage has directed its fundraising activities to Easter Seals. Drop Zone raised $7,025, which boosted the brokerage’s donation to Easter Seals to $25,225 for 2016. â– â– â–

â– â– â–

On Halloween afternoon, a few witches and superheroes from Re/Max Realtron Realty in Toronto gave out candy to more than 400 trick-or-treaters at the annual Trick-or-Treat Treasure Hunt at Sick Kids for the Children’s Miracle Network partnership. The team was asked to participate after becoming the top donating Re/Max brokerage of 2015 for the charitable initiative.

Realtron also has a number of agents in the top 30 donor spots, including Barry Cohen at No. 1.

The secret is out: the team at Sutton Group - Select Realty has been busy helping London, Ont.’s most vulnerable citizens. For the past year, volunteers dubbed Sutton - Select Secret Service have brought warm clothing, toys and food to children in need and assisted adults requiring emergency assistance, food and shelter. “As a means to maximize donations, Sutton Group - Select Realty, one of the major sponsors of the London English Football

â– â– â–

The fifth annual Collingwood Holiday House tour, hosted at the Georgian Bay Hotel, was another triumph for Royal LePage Locations North, in partnership with Our Homes magazine. The event was organized by a fundraising team led by Debbie Bullock at the brokerage.

Close to $30,000 was raised for the Royal LePage Shelter Foundation, which supports My Friend’s House in Collingwood, Ont. and other local charities nominated by each of this year’s homeowners.

Weather conditions were perfect for the 900 visitors to enjoy nine beautifully decorated homes of varying styles and sizes, a busy vendors’ marketplace, a home decorating seminar with Kimberley Seldon and a fashion show. REM

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Sutton Group – Professional Realty in Halifax was among the top fundraisers in Nova Scotia’s Biggest Potluck. In late October, people across Nova Scotia hosted potluck meals and were asked to remember those less fortunate.

Monetary and food donations were collected for Feed Nova Scotia, a

Club, recently partnered with the club,� says brokerage co-owner Karen Sworik. “We collected warm clothing for Mission Services of London’s winter wear drive. By combining our efforts, we substantially increased our donations.�

The brokerage also held a holiday food and toy drive for the Salvation Army.

30 REM JANUARY 2017

THE PUBLISHER’S PAGE

By Heino Molls

T

he news these days tells us that people are clamouring for property in Vancouver and Toronto. While other markets in Canada may not be as heated, they are still active. With all this interest in real estate, especially the way it is depicted in the media, it is presented as if anybody can get into the market. It is almost forgotten by some that the first-time purchase of a home is not as easy as it is made out to be. No one should ever overlook that buying a property for the first time means making a huge investment. It means finding a truck load of money for a down payment.

For many first-time home buyers, that money comes from family members. Mostly mothers and fathers. Sometimes one spouse or

You have to be lucky to buy a home the other has the capital to put up for a couple’s first foray into the housing market. Even then, the spouse’s money often originally comes from their family. Some media suggest that from one-third to 40 per cent of all first-time buyers get family help to buy a home. I think that is far underestimated and it’s closer to 50 per cent or even more.

That still leaves half of firsttime buyers who must get their down payments the old fashioned way, by saving for years and years.

Many Canadian couples do that.

Some families go all in together.

Uncles, aunts, cousins, brothers and sisters, everybody chips in to save for the down payment of a big house for all. This is, I think, becoming more common.

First-time home buyers are lucky. They are lucky to have a family that is able to help them, or they are lucky to have jobs that permit them to set aside money for a down payment. They are lucky to have the education necessary to get a good job that will pay them enough money to do that. Even if

even afford a car, let alone a house.

This young man was very inspiring to me. It made me think of how many people I have come upon who have good jobs but do haphazard work, yet get away with it and still collect a very good wage. It made me think of how many people I have met who took for granted that their mom and dad helped them buy a house and still complained that they couldn’t get one as big as they wanted or did not find one in the location they wanted when they

first entered the market.

There are a lot of rules and regulations that a Realtor must carry out today to get their license and keep it up to date. I wish that one rule was at the top of the list. It would be that Realtors have to tell their clients right after they buy their first home, “You know what?

You’re damn lucky to get this place!”

Heino Molls is publisher of REM. Email heino@remonline.com.

REM

Trade Shows and Conferences For complete listings, see www.remonline.com To add a listing to the calendar, email jim@remonline.com Banff Western Connection January 26 – 28 Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel Banff, Alta. www.banffwesternconnection.com Realtors Association of Hamilton-Burlington Realtor Connections Thursday, March 9 Grand Olympia Convention Centre Stoney Creek, Ont. www.rahb.ca/eventssponsors/realtor-connections/

New Brunswick Real Estate Association 2017 Education Day and AGM April 11 – 12 Fredericton, N.B. http://nbrea.ca/nbrea-2017-agmsponsorship/ Toronto Real Estate Board’s Realtor Quest May 10 – 11 Toronto Congress Centre Toronto www.realtor-quest.ca

Compiled with the assistance of Bob Campbell at Colour Tech Marketing, www.colourtech.com

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Some media suggest that from one-third to 40 per cent of all first-time buyers get family help to buy a home.

they don’t have a good education or a completed apprenticeship to a profession, then some still get lucky by finagling a good paying job. Chances of that happening without a good education or apprenticeship are slim but it can happen. With luck.

If you are lucky in this way, you must never forget that there are millions of Canadians who are not.

Do not take your good fortune for granted. A lot of people don’t have family to help them. A lot of people don’t have a good education, even a basic education or a chance at an apprenticeship. A lot of people only have enough money to live month to month and even day to day. There are so many in our society who are disabled and cannot earn money. There are so many in our world who unable to do any work. Many just aren’t as lucky as others.

In a recent newspaper article, a very bright young man was featured. He lived in the suburbs of a major city and spent two hours commuting each way to the downtown area to work in a fast food restaurant that paid him minimum wage. On weekends, he worked at another fast food outlet, again for minimum wages. He was an excellent worker, very good at his job.

He lived frugally and just managed to get by after paying his rent and buying groceries. He had no education, no family to help him and no prospects of a better job. The most amazing thing about this young man is that he was very happy. He had come from another country where poverty was far more severe than anything he was experiencing in Canada. He thinks he’s lucky. He couldn’t

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