September 2014

Issue #303

September 2014

Re/Max brings agent incorporation to Ontario Page 3

Whistler dispute pits owners against each other Page 3

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

Peerage looks for real estate partners Page 12

Harry Newton’s

really big move Page 8

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REM SEPTEMBER 2014 3

Re/Max brings agent incorporation to Ontario

By Tony Palermo

R

e/Max Integra has brought agent incorporation to Ontario.

Called the Agent Brokerage Program, the initiative brings Ontario in line with other provinces like British Columbia, where real estate agents can incorporate and take advantage of the benefits, including significant tax deferral, which operating their business as a corporation offers.

Re/Max Ontario-Atlantic Canada executive vice-president Gurinder Sandhu says the program has been years in the making and was something top-performing real estate agents in Ontario have been demanding for quite some time.

“If you look at any major profession – accountants, lawyers, doctors, dentists, whatever – they’re all able to incorporate and set up a corporate structure to operate their business in the most tax-effective way possible,” says Sandhu. “Most professions have

that ability, and in many Canadian provinces, so do Realtors. But it wasn’t so in Ontario. We’ve been lobbying for at least a decade to bring agent incorporation to Ontario.”

Sandhu says despite the intense lobbying, the Real Estate Council of Ontario (RECO) wouldn’t change its position on allowing agent incorporations. So, Re/Max began looking for another way they could introduce it.

They found a way about a year ago and have been refining the model and putting it through an extensive due diligence process with tax and regulatory specialists.

Re/Max’s Agent Brokerage Program is geared towards both individual agents and teams. It’s of benefit to those who, speaking strictly in dollar amounts, earn over $300,000 a year and who want to retain money in their business as a tax deferral strategy.

The program works by allowing individual agents or teams to

incorporate themselves as minibrokerages\franchises of the main brokerage they belong to, and then subcontract a good part of the administrative duties back to the main brokerage for a fee.

Since they are still classified as brokerages, the mini-brokerages still need someone with a brokerof-record licence.

“This program really is the best of both worlds for agents who want the benefits of operating as a corporation but who want to offset many of the administrative duties that come with operating a brokerage,” says Sandhu. “Still, the agent is responsible to make sure everything is done properly before they sign off on it. At the end of the day, it’s their name and responsibility.”

Sandhu also cautions that while on the surface the program appears to be simple, behind the scenes are extensive rules and regulations that need to be followed.

As he says, the incorporated agents

and teams are being called minibrokerages but they’re effectively full-fledged brokerages.

He also says the fees being paid to Re/Max don’t change and that the fees charged for the administrative work are negotiated between the main franchise and mini-franchise agent.

“This is meant as a value-add for our Realtors and brokers, not to generate more money for Re/Max Integra,” says Sandhu.

RECO deputy registrar Bruce Matthews says that under the Real Estate and Business Brokers Act, 2002 (REBBA), individual salespeople are not allowed to operate as a corporation. In addressing the years of lobbying, Matthews says it’s important to remember that while RECO’s mandate is to promote consumer protection through a fair, safe and informed real estate marketplace, RECO is delegated by the provincial government to administer the REBBA, not make the rules.

“Our responsibility is to administer what the government lays out,” says Matthews. “If the industry wants the rules to change, it’s the government they should be lobbying.”

Matthews says Re/Max’s Agent Brokerage Program, as he understands it, doesn’t appear to violate anything in the current REBBA. But he warns the mini-brokerage will be treated as a regular standalone brokerage and subject to all of the requirements such as registration, having a broker of record licence and proper insurance and it will ultimately be held liable for their conduct.

“And from a consumer protection stand-point, that’s my ultimate concern,” says Matthews.

“Our current structure makes the individual salesperson directly accountable for their own conduct.

I don’t want anyone to be able to distance themselves from liability by operating as a corporate business.” REM

Whistler dispute pits owners against each other Website claims owners have been locked out of their properties and that values have declined nearly 80 per cent.

By Jean Sorensen

A

bitter dispute between owners in a resort lodge in the Resort Municipality of Whistler, B.C. is demonstrating some of the pitfalls that can happen when multiple owners in a building disagree and the deal goes the way of the ski slope.

Phase I and Phase II strata units have municipal covenants imposed upon them.

The Phase II units are the most restricted. “They have been in the village since the late ’70s and early ’80s,” says Whistler Mayor Nancy Wilhelm-Morden. The majority of the Phase II units are clustered around Whistler’s central village area. When they were built, the municipality was concerned that this hub area of condos and townhouses would see the owners only occupy them on weekends. “They would sit empty the rest of the time,” says Wilhelm-Morden. The

municipality brought in a “warmbeds” policy to ensure rooms for skiers and recreationalists would be available anytime and instituted a covenant system that frees up the suites for rentals. It ensured there is week-round traffic for the retail and commercial outlets clustered in the village area.

Phase I units (which are usually double the price of Phase II units) allow the owner unlimited use anytime of the year but when the unit is not in use, it is placed into a rental pool that is managed under a rental pool management agreement (RPMA). But the owner can also rent out the unit. Phase I units are usually found in buildings away from the central village area.

Phase II units restrict the owner’s use to a combined total of 56 days during summer and winter months and permits usage if there are no bookings. The units are in buildings

that are branded by a hotel with a manager and booking desk. The owners have in place a revenue sharing agreement determining how the room proceeds are shared between the management organization and the suite owner.

On one side of the dispute is Nita Lake Lodge majority owner and lodge manager Michael Scholz, who in May filed a $400,000 civil claim for damages against a minority group of Phase II covenant suite owners. In June, they launched a buyer-beware website (www.bewareat-whistler.com) and sent out a news release entitled “Whistler Rule Guts Real Estate Values.”

In the release, the owners say they were “locked out of their own property by an opportunistic investor in a condominium project who appointed himself rental manager, took control of their units, rented out their properties and kept

A photo of the Nita Lake Lodge distributed by the Beware at Whistler group.

the proceeds. Property values have declined nearly 80 per cent and owners remain locked out of their property today.”

Wilhelm-Morden and local real estate brokers and sales reps say the Nita Lake Lodge situation is not indicative of what is happening with some 5,000 Phase II units that now exist in the resort town. The unhappy group of Phase II suite owners has

asked the municipal council to address their covenant concerns but council is maintaining a hands-off position in the dispute.

Wilhelm-Morden, who is also a lawyer with Race & Co., met with the group “three or four times” but says “It is a private dispute with the majority owner. There is no role for Continued on page 40

4 REM SEPTEMBER 2014

Multiple Listings

By Jim Adair, REM Editor Do you have news to share with Canada’s real estate community?

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

S

usan G. McGougan of Re/Max of Nanaimo has been elected chair of the Real Estate Council of British Columbia (RECBC) for the 2014/2015 term. Marylou Leslie of Macdonald Realty, Surrey, was elected as vice-chair.

There are 16 members of the council including three appointed by the provincial government.

Thirteen members are chosen through an election process open to all real estate licensees in the province. The elected members are comprised of nine brokers and three representatives from each of the various provincial counties.

One individual is elected as the strata/rental property management member. Currently, the government-appointed public members are Barbara Barry of West Vancouver and John Nagy of Delta. The council is awaiting the announcement of a third government-appointed member.

Newly elected/appointed to the council for a two-year term are: Ralph Archibald, Polygon Realty, Vancouver; David Peerless, Dexter Associates Realty, Vancouver; and Harvey Exner, Macdonald Realty,

Maple Ridge.

Re-elected council members for a two-year term are Subhadra Ghose, Re/Max of Nanaimo, Nanaimo and David Rishel, Re/Max Little Oak Realty, Abbotsford.

Council members with one year remaining in their terms are: J. Garth Cambrey, Cambrey Consulting, Port Coquitlam; Richard Valouche, TRG The Residential Group Realty, Vancouver; Abdul Ghouri, Green Team Realty, Vancouver; R.E. Michael Zeigler, Newport Realty, Victoria; Joseph Pearson, Re/Max Vernon, Vernon; and Susan Lynch, Re/Max Centre City Realty, Prince George.

Geoff Thiele has joined the staff of the RECBC as director, legal services. Thiele practised municipal and insurance law in the Lower Mainland for nine years before joining a claims adjusting firm. For five years, he investigated professional liability claims against engineers, architects, surveyors and a wide variety of other professionals. In 2004, he joined the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of

B.C., where most recently he was director, legislation, ethics and compliance.

■ ■ ■

Ron Gordon and Brian O’Donoghue of Re/Max First Realty have purchased the office formerly run by Roger Anderson of Re/Max Quality One in Ajax, Ont. Anderson purchased his franchise in 1993 and has operated Re/Max Quality One for more than 20 years. He has been regional councillor and deputy mayor for the town of Ajax and is currently the chair and CEO of the Region of Durham, as well as chair of the Durham Region Transit Commission. He decided to sell his brokerage so he can focus on his many roles in his community but he will remain with Re/Max First as associate broker.

Re/Max First now has locations in Brooklin, Pickering, Whitby and Ajax, with a sales force of close to 200 associates.

Gordon and O’Donoghue have operated many successful franchises for more than 20 years, the company says.

■ ■ ■

Managing broker Myrna Park has purchased Century 21 Assurance Realty and its location at 251 Harvey Ave. in Kelowna, B.C. Park started her real estate career in 1983 and bought her first Century 21 franchise in Northern Alberta in 1985.

She completed the deal over three weeks while she was in Edmonton donating a kidney to her brother, Wayne Selzler.

“Sometimes the timing of opportunities cannot be controlled and you have to juggle things in order to get them done,” she says. The operation was a success for both her and her brother and Park is now home and overseeing the office once again, she says.

She plans to continue the real estate philosophy of former owners Ken and Grant Wiebe and will have some more “cutting-edge ideas” to announce soon, Park says.

■ ■ ■

Royal Pacific Realty Group’s Dragon Dance Team debuted what it calls the world’s first Rainbow Dragon during Vancouver’s recent Pride Parade.

“The dragon is a symbol of prosperity and brings all of us good fortune, luck, health, vitality and new beginnings,” says managing partner, vice-president and general manager, Andrew Peck. “Royal Pacific Realty Group embraces diversity and our sales team of more than 1,100 licensed Realtors are from all corners of the globe and from diverse lifestyles as well,” says Peck.

has been transferred to Tom Shearer. He takes over the brokerage from his father Ken Shearer, a 40-year veteran of the real estate industry. Ken was an area manager for the Royal LePage offices in the South Edmonton area when all Royal LePage brokerages were corporately owned. He acquired a number of Edmonton-area Royal LePage offices in 1999.

Ken has served as president of the Realtors Association of Edmonton, president of the Alberta Real Estate Association and was the first chair of the Real Estate Council of Alberta. Along with others he was instrumental in moving organized real estate to a self-regulated industry in Alberta.

Ken will continue to hold his license at Royal LePage Noralta.

Tom Shearer began his real estate career in 2000. During the past 14 years, he has served on numerous board committees. He is also an active volunteer and has devoted time to two medical missions. Tom is an avid sailor and a former member of the Canadian sailing team.

■ ■ ■

The Aventure Realty Network has two new members.

Continued on page 6

■ ■ ■

Ownership of Royal LePage Noralta Real Estate in Edmonton

Susan G. McGougan

Geoff Thiele

Brian O’Donoghue

Marylou Leslie

Ron Gordon

Myrna Park

Roger Anderson

Royal Pacific Realty Group’s Rainbow Dragon

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6 REM SEPTEMBER 2014

Multiple Listings Continued from page 4

“At Home Realty Group in Guelph, Ont. and broker/owner Paul Fitzpatrick has a history of success and a strong market presence and has established At Home Realty Group as a leading independent brokerage in the market,” says Aventure Realty Network president Bernie Vogt. “With a team of over 20 sales professionals, (the brokerage) adds to the reach of Aventure members in this important market.”

Town and Country Realty of St. John’s, Nfld. has also joined the network. Broker/owner Greg Power has 27 years of experience, serving the St. John’s, Mount Pearl and surrounding markets with a suite of services.

The network includes 58 independent brokerages in more than 1,100 markets from coast to coast.

■ ■ ■

Broker/owner Craig Blanchard and partner Nick Vinicombe of Royal LePage Atlantic Homestead have opened a second office in St. John’s.

They acquired the franchise in December 2009 and at the time the brokerage had 14 salespeople.

Since then the office has more than doubled. The owners say further recruiting and growth are planned.

Good Health, a series of articles, tips and tools promoting wellness at work and home for their associates. The company is consulting with Dr. Gregg Baron, co-founder and chief wellness officer of Dream Wellness in New York. “The relationship between wealth and wellness is unmistakable,” says Gregg.

“Healthier, happier teams can lead directly to an increase in productivity.”

Exit associates and members of the public can access regular contributions by Baron on the company’s blog, RealEstateIndustryLeaders.com.

“Good health is the basis of a great life,” says Steve Morris, founder and chairman of Exit Realty Corp. International. “This initiative encompasses the essence of Exit’s philosophy, to be healthy, wealthy, loving and wise.”

■ ■ ■

Re/Max offices in Greater Vancouver recently launched Beyourcareer.ca, a marketing campaign focused on recruiting. It is the first time that real estate offices with different ownerships have made such a shared effort, the company says. There are 13 offices taking part.

Emma Perrotta, an Italian real estate marketing consultant based in Vancouver, was appointed coordinator of the project. “All the broker/managers involved asked me to think outside the box and bring their communication to the next level,” she says. “That’s why I took inspiration for the layout of the website from some of the most famous advocacy campaigning and activism websites in North America and Europe. We didn’t want to resemble any other real estate esthetic choice.”

The website integrates different media, including videos that harmonize with content that tells the stories of the 13 offices involved. The blog is curated by different real estate agents, brokers and professionals to create a hub offering insights and tips about the profession.

■ ■ ■

Exit Realty Corp. International recently introduced Focus on

Ken Shearer

Tom Shearer

■ ■ ■

Paul Fitzpatrick

Greg Power

Once again, real estate softball teams are being sought in Surrey, B.C. for a softball tournament. It will be held on Sept. 19 at Softball City. Teams will include a combination of real estate companies and business-related services.

There will be 16 teams and each team is guaranteed at least two games. The $450 registration fee includes a drink and food item. For information, contact Ben Gill at 604-716-2274. REM

Craig Blanchard

Nick Vinicombe

Supreme Court dismisses TREB’s appeal members’ use of data in the MLS system. The tribunal dismissed the application against TREB in April 2013, but the bureau appealed the decision before the FCA. It ruled in February 2014 that the tribunal’s decision was based on an overly narrow interpretation of section 79 of the Competition Act – the “abuse of dominance” provision.

The FCA ordered the tribunal to reconsider the bureau’s case on its merits.

TREB appealed that decision to

the Supreme Court. Since that appeal was dismissed, the tribunal must now proceed with its reconsideration of the case.

“We welcome today’s decision by the Supreme Court of Canada that denies TREB’s application for leave to appeal,” says John Pecman, commission of competition, in a statement. “We continue to believe that prohibiting TREB’s anti-competitive practices and allowing real estate agents to provide the services of their choice is the only way to

ensure that consumers and real estate agents alike can benefit from increased competition for residential real estate brokerage services in the Greater Toronto Area. Today’s decision brings us one step closer to that goal.”

TREB said in a statement: “As you can appreciate, the issue of The Commissioner of Competition and Toronto Real Estate Board is once again before the Competition Tribunal, so it would be inappropriate for TREB

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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 2014 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.

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to comment on details.

“TREB will say, though, that the commissioner of competition is persisting in its efforts to erode the personal privacy and contractual safeguards afforded by the MLS system. TREB will continue to work to protect the personal information entrusted to it and its members by the general public, while it strives always to do what it can to ensure a highly competitive environment for real estate professionals in the GTA.” REM Printed by Metroland Media Group, Ltd. A certified SFI Printer

T

he Supreme Court of Canada has dismissed an application by the Toronto Real Estate Board (TREB) seeking leave to appeal the February 2014 Federal Court of Appeal (FCA) decision, which ordered the Competition Tribunal to reconsider its ruling in the bureau’s case against TREB. In May 2011, the Competition Bureau filed an application with the tribunal challenging restrictions that TREB imposed on its

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8 REM SEPTEMBER 2014

Harry Newton’s really big move

Two years ago, managing broker Harry Newton and partner Michael Sweet cut a two-storey home in half and moved it half a mile. “You can save any building, no matter how big,” Newton says.

But was it worth the time and effort? By Diane Slawych

T

wo years after he moved his historic Victoria, B.C. house to a new neighbourhood – a sight that attracted hundreds of onlookers – managing broker Harry Newton says he learned one thing. “You can save any building, no matter how big.”

Whether it’s feasible, however, is another matter.

Newton, of Newtco Real Estate Company, along with partner and co-owner of the house Michael Sweet of Black Horse Contracting, were up for a challenge and there were many along the way.

Perhaps the biggest involved cutting the two-storey, 120-ton house in half so it could fit on the road. The move itself (a distance of half a mile) was supposed to take about seven hours but instead it took 18 hours due to issues with cables, phone and hydro lines along the way. And then there was the cost, which ballooned to nearly double what the pair had anticipated.

Acknowledging the whole experience was “very stressful,” Newton commended the moving company, Pridy Bros. for a “fantastic job.”

“Now that it’s done, it’s receiving lots of praise,” he says.

“The city is happy with it, the neighbours like it and we got the Hallmark Heritage Society President’s Award.” It was also the only building project the Rockland Community Association has ever endorsed.

The pair bought the circa 1880 building from Abstract Developments for $1 in 2012 with the intention of moving it from its location at Oak Bay and Richmond avenues to a spot between two of their three other existing houses on Pemberton Road in the upscale Rockland area. Abstract wanted to demolish the home and develop the land, but the city objected to the home’s destruction due to its heritage value. Newton wanted to add to his existing rental stock.

“We thought that by saving this building the city would allow us to create a lot and save the building at the same time and it became part of four buildings all in a row of character conversions that are rental suites,” says Newton.

The wood frame house had served for a time (1905-6) as a school – the predecessor of St. Michael’s University School. By the 1920s it had been converted into five suites. Newton said it

was run down both inside and out and in need of repairs. The 6,299-sq.-ft. building with a basement and an attic was the largest single lift that Pridy Bros. had ever done.

Long before the actual move on Sept. 22, 2012, Sweet worked six days a week for 18 months getting the house ready.

He tore up floors, removed the chimney, moved the home’s central staircase and built walls on each side of the planned cut as reinforcement. “Everything was labelled and numbered so we could reassemble it later,” says Sweet.

After being cut in half with a reciprocating saw, the home was hydraulically lifted and put on I-beams. “Have you seen the (HGTV) show Massive Moves?” asks Newton, trying to describe the process that followed.

The home was rolled apart and loaded on to 16 wheels or rollers, which can be steered.

“Once it was on the street we moved it like a parade – the first half of the house, followed by a vehicle in between, then the second half of the house,” says Sweet. There were trucks everywhere, plus 20 flaggers controlling traffic, and about 500 people watching the event.

Harry Newton (Photo: John Yanyshyn / Visions West)

“There were guys in front checking the wires and the City of Victoria, who didn’t want to cut trees, was cutting branches at 4 am,” says Sweet.

They then backed the house up the street and into a huge hole at its new address. “Both halves had to be backed in, then aligned and when you’re talking tonnage, it’s quite a bit of manoeuvring,” says Sweet.

“When we got it back together, we raised it up in the air 13 feet to put the foundation in.” Once the foundation cured and all the main beams and sub posts were in place, the house was lowered into position on Nov.14. At this stage, most people would assume the hardest part was over, but Sweet knew otherwise. “That’s just the beginning,” he says.

“Now you have to fix the whole house.”

That work included replumbing and rewiring the home, redoing the floors, putting in new windows and a roof, and adding new kitchens and bathrooms to the five-unit property.

They had no problem finding tenants. “We didn’t have to advertise to rent it out,” says Sweet. “This place has character.”

Many 1880s features were retained including the original fireplaces, claw-foot bathtubs and big stand-up sinks, all of which were refurbished while modern conveniences were also added including gas stoves and heated bathroom floors. Once called Richmond Court, the building is now known by its new address: 1016 Pemberton Rd. As for the final cost of the move and the renovations? “We ball-parked it would cost maybe $500,000 to $700,000,” says Newton. “But in the end it was closer to $1 million.” Though he’s pleased with the end result, he admits he’ll probably never recoup the costs of the move.

“It’ll work out better for my kids,” he says. REM

The heritage home was cut in half so it would fit down the road.

The moving process was like a parade, says partner Michael Sweet.

See On the Move in New Zealand, page 10.

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10 REM SEPTEMBER 2014

On the move in New Zealand

Historic Gothic church and luxury hotel are among relocated buildings

W

hy demolish a building when you can move it instead? That seems to be the guiding philosophy in New Zealand, where it’s not unusual to find a wide variety of structures that have been physically relocated from one place to another.

On a recent three-week visit to the North Island, I was surprised to discover no fewer than a dozen buildings that had been moved over the years. Many of them are tourist attractions and include churches, hotels and at least one theatre.

Art Hotel in the capital city of Wellington. The luxury boutique property is the renowned home of one of New Zealand’s finest collections of contemporary art.

In 1993, the six-year-old reinforced concrete building, weighing an estimated 3,500 tons, was moved a distance of 180 metres across a major road to make way for the new Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa.

It took five months to prepare for the move. The building was turned into a gigantic railway carriage and wheeled on eight

St. Mary’s church in Auckland

Details of these cumbersome relocations – which involve months of painstaking planning, considerable cost and unique obstacles that must be overcome – are often described on guided walking tours or on informational plaques at the building site itself.

Unable to find statistics on the precise number of buildings that have been relocated in the country, I resorted to querying locals at every opportunity, in an attempt to determine the reason for this moving craze.

“We like a challenge,” says James McGruer, director, Visit Devonport.

It certainly is a challenge, especially for large buildings.

And one of the largest to have been moved is the Museum

sets of parallel rails. The wheels were then turned 90 degrees and the building was pushed across the road on another set of rails to a point where it was joined to new foundations.

A hotel spokesperson told REM that during the process, the only items removed from the hotel was the bed linen.

“Everything else remained in situ, even the liquor bottles in the bar. Nothing was damaged in the move and there were no signs of any stress,” says the spokesperson. The entrepreneur who undertook the project, Chris Parkin, was later awarded the title of Wellingtonian of the Year in recognition of his efforts.

A few meters from the hotel and the Te Papa museum is

Story and photos By Diane Slawych

the Circa Theatre. Established in 1976 and considered one of New Zealand’s most innovative theatres, it also moved to a new location in 1993 along with its old Westport Coal Chambers façade, which is painted an eyecatching red with white trim and ornate embellishments. Details of the move along with photos are described on the exterior of the building.

One of the most popular places to visit in the Auckland area is Devonport. The picturesque Victorian village, with viewpoints atop volcanic cones, is just a short 12-minute ferry ride from downtown Auckland.

One of the first buildings you see is the historic Esplanade Hotel, which opened in 1903.

It was built on a site that once contained the Flagstaff hotel – an old wooden building that had been moved to another site (and was later demolished in 1938).

On a self-guided Devonport Audio Tour, I learned of yet another relocated building, the small wooden mortuary chapel of St. Francis de Sales. In 1894 it was moved from the Symonds Street cemetery to Devonport.

Prior to that, Roman Catholic services were being held in parishioners’ homes.

The chapel was loaded on to a horse-drawn wagon and transported to the Auckland waterfront, where it was then floated across the harbour on a barge and carried to the site. By 1904 the Catholic population had increased and an attractive neo-Gothic-style brick church was eventually built around the wooden one, which is what you see today at the St Francis de Sales and All Souls Roman Catholic Church.

Back on the mainland, not far from the excellent Auckland Museum is the historic neighbourhood of Parnell

The Museum Art Hotel

– full of charming renovated buildings that now house cafes, restaurants, galleries and boutique shops.

It was at the top end of Parnell Road that I found the beautiful St. Mary’s church (a former cathedral), built in 1886 and known as one of the finest wooden Gothic buildings in the world. It too had been relocated.

When the first portion of Holy Trinity Cathedral was completed in 1973, St. Mary’s became much less used and fell into disrepair. But rather than tear it down, a decision was made to move the 390-ton church to a site between Parnell Road and the new cathedral – an engineering feat that was completed in 1982.

Inside

St.

Mary’s

are

photographs and text that describe the three-monthlong process. It shows how the columns were transferred from their foundations to a transverse steel beam and the stained glass windows were reinforced with plywood on both faces to prevent damage, before the structure was transferred to rollers and on to the timber “railway” constructed beneath the building.

Perhaps the most illustrious visitor to St. Mary’s over the years was Queen Elizabeth II, who attended Christmas service on her Coronation tour in 1953.

If the Queen ever returns to the country, she may be pleased to know the church is still standing.

Though to find it now, she’d have to be directed to its new location across the road. REM

The Circa Theatre in Wellington

12 REM SEPTEMBER 2014

Peerage looks for real estate partners Company founder Miles Nadal says, “We’ve been growing organically. Now it’s a good time to grow acquisitively as well.” By Susan Doran

W

ant to hear something that may convince you that gazillionaire business tycoons aren’t so different than the rest of us?

How about this: Miles Nadal, one of the highest-paid CEOs in advertising, views himself as an underdog.

“I come from humble beginnings. The first people I ever hired were my parents,” says Nadal.

That was back when he was a teenager, running a photography company taking pictures of kids at summer camp. He went on to found various hugely successful ventures, among them MDC Partners, which is among the top advertising and marketing companies in the world.

“I have always been one to challenge the status quo and do things differently. That’s why I feel I behave as an underdog,” says Nadal.

He pauses.

“The difference is now I’m a more affluent underdog.”

How affluent, you ask? Some sources peg Nadal’s salary from MDC at close to $25 million yearly and his net worth at over $100 million.

Lately, this formidable “underdog” has been steering one of his innovative operations, Torontobased Peerage Realty Partners (PRP), into growth mode. A true entrepreneur, he’s looking for the next deal.

“We’ve been growing organically. Now it’s a good time to grow acquisitively as well,” says Nadal.

This acceleration was presumably spurred by Nadal’s recent buyout of his former PRP silent partners, as well as by the acquisition of a couple of fierce new hires on the management team – CEO Gavin Swartzman (most recently a managing director of MDC) and executive vice-president of corporate development Don Kottick, formerly president of Right at Home Realty and also former vice-president of Royal LePage.

Nadal founded PRP in 2007.

Don Kottick

Gavin Swartzman

Miles Nadal

“We have ample capital – upwards of $200 million – that we can invest in the business over time if we find the right partners,” Nadal says.

A partner-driven real estate brokerage network, PRP’s current ties are with two powerhouses (or “crown jewels,” as Kottick describes them), Chestnut Park Real Estate (the Christie’s International Real Estate affiliate for Toronto and one of Canada’s top luxury firms) and Baker Real Estate, a leader in new development and condominium sales and marketing.

It is additional innovative, professional, full-service, residential real estate “thought leaders” like these that Nadal says he is currently seeking for PRP’s expansion bid.

“We’re looking for industry leaders that have carved a niche and are dedicated to providing high-value services to clients,” he says.

Included are broker/owners and industry innovators who are looking for succession or transition planning. PRP’s new management team says that both Chestnut Park and Baker Real

Estate have transitioned their day-to-day management from their founders to the next generation, although the founders still provide strategic input.

“We want generational real estate with families, not just with the parents but with their children. We want firms who offer value-added services and have developed long-term relationships with clients,” says Nadal.

“We have ample capital – upwards of $200 million – that we can invest in the business over time if we find the right partners,” he says. “We’re looking at this on a long-term basis.”

If all goes according to plan, once a good fit is found PRP buys a majority stake. Acquisition with the purchased firm being folded into one of PRP’s larger platforms is also an option in some circumstances.

Besides the marketing expertise PRP clearly brings to the table, the main advantages for the partnering companies include sig-

nificantly increased capital for expansion as well as access to an array of first-rate legal, financial, technological and training resources (which Nadal refers to as “back office plumbing”) without loss of independence.

“We want people to have a vested interest in their business,” Nadal says. He stresses that the point is for PRP partners to retain the entrepreneurial freedom – “the magic” – that has made their brand a stand out, while also getting the help they need to expand.

A key point is that PRP is neither looking to dissolve or assimilate brands or to leave partnering firms on their own without management support.

“We empower people to preserve their brand but give them financial and other resource support to accelerate their growth,” Nadal says.

“It’s really where our core strength lies,” says PRP CEO Swartzman. “I do believe our cultural approach to partnership

makes us special. We are talent friendly.”

Nadal has a history of establishing these types of global entrepreneurial partnerships with talented and highly committed people and fostering the resultant culture. It’s a business model he is familiar with via MDC for example, which differentiates itself in the marketplace by conducting business as a partner rather than a parent company.

Peerage’s approach is similar.

Its principals note that this is a fresh approach for the Canadian real estate industry.

Kottick, hired for his expertise in real estate, says, “The strategic direction at PRP is so unique….and not many companies are as well-funded. The principals understand marketing and advertising and know that you have to spend money to make money. Other companies squeeze every dime. There is no bureaucracy and things move at lightning speed here – we have the funding! I love working here. It’s so refreshing and empowering.”

Nevertheless, clinching a deal can be an uphill struggle.

“Getting people to make a change is challenging,” Nadal says. “And identifying great firms is difficult. But getting them to partner is more so. We have to find the right time in the cycle. So we have to be patient.”

The right time in the cycle depends on circumstances and involves the winning combination of the potential partner company’s desirability, availability and affordability, Nadal says.

Plotting ahead as is his custom, Nadal has said that with PRP he expects to re-define the real estate industry, which he describes as currently “large and fragmented.”

Make that large, fragmented…. and potentially extremely lucrative.

“Real estate is very strong in Canada,” he says. “I am confident in the market. The trend is upward.” REM

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14 REM SEPTEMBER 2014

LEGAL ISSUES

By Donald H. Lapowich

A

recent Ontario case goes to the heart of something dear to real estate agents, commission rights.

The sales rep entered a standard Listing Agreement with the vendor for the sale of the vendor’s property. That agreement provided a commission of 4.5 per cent “for a valid offer” and was “payable should the transaction not be completed due to the vendor’s default.”

The sales rep obtained an offer for the full asking price and presented it to the vendor, who refused to accept it. The sales rep

Rights to commission then sued for his commission and obtained it together with costs.

On the appeal that judgment was upheld. The court determined that the vendor acted in bad faith and attempted to frustrate the conduct of the sales rep in presenting a final offer for the full asking price. No evidence was led that the best possible price might have been greater than the asking price. The agreement was binding. The vendor did not have to accept the agreement, which clearly stated payment of commission on presentation of an offer at the full listing price. (T. L. Willaert Realty Ltd. v. Fody, 2013 ONSC 7533).

■ ■ ■

Courts are interested in a party’s motive: A husband and wife offered to purchase the vendor’s property to be put in the purchasers’ corporation’s name. The purchasers represented that they were the vendor’s neighbours but

in fact their corporation only owned property on the same street.

The vendor learned this fact and refused to complete the transaction. The court found that the vendor’s consent to the Offer to Purchase was voluntary, not part of any undue influence, there was no domination and that the acceptance of the offer was an exercise of freewill. The representation was nothing more than an irrelevant misunderstanding by the vendor and she immediately signed the Offer to Purchase.

There was no fundamental misleading.

The court found (and no doubt this was essential) that the vendor only raised the alleged “misrepresentation” when she wanted out of the deal so that she could reopen the price. (3434273 Manitoba Ltd. v. Nowak, 2013 MBQB 214) ■ ■ ■

Interpretation of ambiguous clauses: In a different case, Howard Sokolowski and Al Libfeld agreed to market and develop a piece of property in three stages. However, they had a dispute partway through Stage 1.

They then entered a settlement agreement whereby Libfeld acquired the unsold lots on Stage 1 and all of the Stage 3 lots.

Sokolowski acquired all the Stage 2 lots. The settlement agreement indicated that the sales office on Stage 1 was not to be used to sell Stage 3 lots.

Libfeld sold the Stage 1 lots and then moved the sales office (which he remodelled) to the Stage 3 area to sell those lots.

Sokolowski then sought relief from the “alleged” breach of covenant under the sales agreement.

The judge held that the existing sales office was not to be used from its position in Stage 1 to sell the Stage 3 lots. However, the set-

tlement did not prevent Libfeld from moving the sales office to Stage 3 and then using it “on Stage 3” to sell the Stage 3 lots. In other words, by moving the sales office and having it remodelled and placed on Stage 3 it could not be said that it had any connection now to the Stage 1 project.

The Court of Appeal in Ontario held that the ambiguous clause could be interpreted by the positions taken by both parties.

However, the judge was found to have correctly interpreted that the purpose of the settlement was adhered to when that office was moved to Stage 3 and remodelled.

(Sokolowski v. Libfeld, 2013 ONSC 2886) Donald Lapowich, Q.C. is a partner at the law firm of Koskie, Minsky in Toronto, where he practices civil litigation, with a particular emphasis on real estate litigation and mediation, acting for builders, real estate agents and lawyers. REM

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16 REM SEPTEMBER 2014

Real estate investing for sales reps

By Michael Dominguez

W

e have a unique investment opportunity as real estate professionals.

We have seen the real estate pricing trends over the last few years.

We are also market experts in our local communities. We have the ability to view way more homes than most investors. Heck, we have even been instrumental in helping many of our clients build a lot of wealth through real estate.

So why is every sales rep and broker not investing in real estate?

The most common answers I hear are: 1. I don’t want to take the risk.

2. I don’t have the time to do what I’m already doing. I know I don’t have time to manage a property as well.

3. I’ve seen my share of bad tenants. I have no interest in being a landlord.

Let me try to answer each of these concerns.

Risk? Any time you put your money into any investment vehicle, there is an element of risk. In my case, I owned a pet food franchise for many years. I’ve also invested in mutual funds and stocks with mixed results. For years I had negative returns (I lost money). I took silly risks. I invested in tech stocks that flopped. I invested in various mineral stocks that never went anywhere. It wasn’t until much more recently that I changed my focus to blue chip companies that I understand and researched prior to investing.

More recently, I’ve taken a page out of my investment property strategy, looking for “cash flow” paying dividend stocks. The thing is, there really are not any leveraging opportunities for the stock market. Yes, there are options, but, although I can feel pretty good about a particular company, I can’t

personally control their short-term successes or failures. The thought of rolling the dice with leveraging in the stock market feels like too much of a gamble for me.

But when it comes to real estate, we know what we are talking about. We can choose investments in good areas, in reasonable condition and help mitigate the risk. I’m confident that at least once over the past month, you’ve helped one buyer “off the fence” by explaining how the values in that area have appreciated steadily over the past number of years. Now is the time to take your own advice.

Time? I obviously don’t know your schedule, but I can bet that the wealth you can generate with one investment property can outperform multiple real estate transactions over the course of a year.

With proper leveraging, a solid investment should see some monthly cash flow and mortgage pay down. But the big prize is the appreciation. A property valued at $300,000 needs a $60,000 capital investment. But appreciation is on

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Now is the time to take your own advice. the full value of the asset. A fiveper-cent growth brings the value to $315,000. With mortgage pay down and cash flow, you are looking at a return of $20,000 to $30,000 on the first year alone on an investment of $60,000. Now multiply that return over 10 years.

Even if the appreciation is a very conservative two per cent, the profit is outstanding. On my typical property I manage, I spend about three to five hours a month.

I say, make the time.

Tenants? I’m not going to lie to you, dealing with tenants can be a royal pain. But, by making the properties as nice as you can, you

should improve the tenant profile.

Remember your end goal is to build wealth. The tenants are your clients. They are paying your expenses while your asset is appreciating. Besides, if it was too easy, everyone would do it.

If you are determined not to deal with tenants, consider a joint venture partner or property manager. The partner can do all the day-to-day work and all it costs you is half of the profits. If you believe in real estate, but just don’t want to be hassled by the tenant’s concerns, there is always a solution.

As real estate professionals, we have insider knowledge to probably the greatest investment vehicle known. We have all seen the returns some of our clients have experienced. If you are looking to build wealth, go with the vehicle you know the best.

If your office has any sales reps who took action and bought properties 20 years ago, ask them about the wealth they have generated (assuming they haven’t retired and are living off their cash flow). I’ll wager they likely own the properties free and clear, or have used the proceeds for other investments or personal enjoyment. Either way, they are better off for having done the purchases. Now is your chance to invest in what you sell. Let’s see where you are in 20 years.

Michael Dominguez is an awardwinning sales rep with Re/Max Jazz Brokerage in Oshawa, focused on cash flow generating residential properties in southern Ontario. Besides adding properties for his own portfolio within Oshawa, Cobourg and Orillia, he is building a joint venture team for these markets. Email durhamhome@rogers.com; Twitter @durhamhome, Website website REM www.durhamhome.ca

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18 REM SEPTEMBER 2014

Real Estate Technology RECO launches registration certificate app The Real Estate Council of Ontario (RECO) recently launched MyRECO Certificate, a mobile app that allows Ontario’s real estate professionals to display their registration certificate on their mobile device, in real time.

“The industry has expressed a desire for a convenient registration certificate that can withstand wear and tear and the app addresses that,” says registrar Joseph Richer. “It’s part of RECO’s ongoing effort to leverage technology to offer useful digital services to registrants.”

The app is currently available for Apple, Android and BlackBerry Z10 devices. To download, visit the Apple App store on your Apple device, the Google Play store on your Android device or BlackBerry World on your Z10 device and search for “MyRECO Certificate.” The app is free.

Once downloaded, registrants can pull up a real-time version of their RECO registration certificate anytime they are connected to the Internet or keep a date-stamped copy stored for offline use.

The MyRECO Certificate app

The paper certificate is still a valid form of proof of registration, says Richer, and RECO will continue to issue paper registration certificates.

Instanet helps sales reps go paperless Instanet Solutions has gone live with software that allows CREA members to marry CREA’s online forms directly into Instanet’s TransactionDesk cloud-based paperless application.

In 2013, CREA integrated the proprietary WEBForms platform with Instanet’s electronic signature solution, Authentisign. That was the first step in helping members complete their real estate contracts and have them signed online without the need for paper, says the company.

Now Realtors can create real estate forms and contracts in WEBForms, import other dealrelated documents such as surveys, title and home inspections, and send the full package out to be signed electronically all in one unified online system, the company says.

“As a national organization, CREA partners with industry leaders to offer powerful tools to our members, allowing them to become more efficient and to better achieve their business objectives,” says Marc Lafrance, CREA’s director of product management and member services.

Instanet president and CEO Martin Scrocchi says, “This expanded relationship with CREA definitely gives Realtors in Canada the ability to go paperless, thereby saving CREA members hundreds of thousands of dollars every year. Buyers and sellers will love how easy it is to list and sell real estate. Everyone wins.”

For information: http://goo.gl/OZCIrP. REM

20 REM SEPTEMBER 2014

O P I N I O N

By Hannon Bell

I

’ve been a licensed real estate agent since 1995. Recently along with some colleagues I was brought up to date on the new guidelines on the government’s enhanced Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (FINTRAC) policies.

FINTRAC was originally set up around 2007 as a means of tracking money laundering and terrorist activities. Initially, all we real estate practitioners had to do was identify the buyer and/or seller and record the name, address and date of birth.

We had to check ID such as a driver’s license or passport with the individual and documents

Time to rethink FINTRAC physically in front of us.

The rules have changed and now we are required to go further.

We now have to identify areas of client risk as low, medium or high.

If we determine that a client’s risk is high, we are to tell our brokerage’s compliance officer.

I am disgusted, dismayed and repulsed that along with my fellow real estate professionals I would be put in such a position by a government that supports a Canadian Museum for Human Rights. Ironically I live in the city that is home to this museum.

While I fully support a safe and free society I do not support our involvement in this program.

We are Realtors subscribing to a Code of Ethics. This is anything but “ethical”.

To be frank and realistic, we do not have the training, expertise or experience to make such a judgment call and determination. And why should we? How utterly ludicrous!

Buyers and sellers are our clients. How in all that is right and

fair can we deal with them, have them deal with us and more importantly have them put their trust in us and then go behind their backs and state what we think about them on this form?

Then there is the privacy issue.

Should they not know that we are filling in these thoughts about them? How would they react should they realize the implications of this type of reporting?

What about a sales rep’s safety should they happen on to an unsavoury client? Is this not in some way similar to being an undercover police informant in a biker society?

This is tantamount to what went on in socialist countries and countries with human rights violations. In fact, hints of “McCarthyism” are being played out in this form.

To put it bluntly, the underlying subtext is that we are being asked by the federal government to participate in racial profiling. This is wrong.

What would be the right and

®

correct approach is if the government wants this type of program, it should be sponsored through the Department of Immigration, where situations can be intelligently monitored with personnel properly trained in this sensitive area of human relations.

This is definitely not the job of the sales rep. And if it is, then the question to ask is should we not be compensated for it, perhaps through Revenue Canada, as a business tax credit?

I seriously think the government should rethink its stance on this most contentious issue and consider the consequences. This portfolio makes as much sense as the ill-fated and ill-conceived long gun registry and look where that is now.

As a Canadian I am ashamed of what this government is putting our industry through.

Furthermore, I think considering what’s at stake, that our industry should react. We should have the power to lobby for change and not go along with a bureaucratic

idea that is so wrong on so many fronts. Were we consulted as a group on these latest regulations?

Surveys should be taken and focus groups consulted before a “set in stone” new regulation takes hold.

I’d also think an audit should be conducted to show the “success” rate of FINTRAC since its inception. Since organized real estate is involved, we have a right to know how it is fulfilling its mandate.

Hannon Bell has been involved in organized real estate since 1985 and was licensed in Toronto. Moving back to Winnipeg in 1993, he has been involved at both the Winnipeg Realtors and MREA levels. He was the recipient of the WinnipegRealtors Community Service Award as well as being the cover and feature story in REM June 2005. He says, “These are my views only and do not represent my brokerage or any committee I sit on with organized real estate. I am passionate about a lot of issues. This is REM one of them.”

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Ottawa Agent Builds a Multi-Million Dollar Real Estate Legacy in 4 Short Years

By Marnie Bennett As I access my business model and my success to date I cannot help but reflect back on the journey.

I went to my very first Craig Proctor SuperConference in Los Angeles in May 2010. At that time, I was on target to be the #1 Agent for Keller Williams International - but truth be known, I had no systems, no direction, no lead generation systems -just “old school� real estate.

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By the way, I was #1 in 2010 for Keller Williams, and would have been for 2011, but I left to start my own boutique brokerage in January 2012 thanks to Craig’s encouragement.

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Learn more at royallepage.ca/joinus Includes traditional media coverage only. Excludes paid/advertorial and online media coverage. Some variances in total number of media impressions and brand mentions captured may occur across media monitoring tracking tools available in market. Not intended to solicit any sales representative or broker currently under contract. Any copying, reproduction, distribution or other use of these materials is prohibited. Š2014 Brookfield Real Estate Services Manager Limited. All rights reserved.

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Reaching more Canadians

Coldwell Banker

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Join Royal LePage.

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Royal LePage is The Voice of Canadian Real Estate, garnering 60.5% more media impressions in 2013 than our closest competitor.

Put our Powerful Brand to work for you.

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Learn more at royallepage.ca/joinus Includes traditional media coverage only. Excludes paid/advertorial and online media coverage. Some variances in total number of media impressions and brand mentions captured may occur across media monitoring tracking tools available in market. Not intended to solicit any sales representative or broker currently under contract. Any copying, reproduction, distribution or other use of these materials is prohibited. Š2014 Brookfield Real Estate Services Manager Limited. All rights reserved.

24 REM SEPTEMBER 2014

How to fire an employee

By Amanda Ross

W

hile firing a problem staff member is definitely an option, before you go there, make sure you can’t save the situation.

Sometimes all it takes is a little more direction or more details on the expectations to make them a great team member.

If you decide that there is no other choice, here are a few tips to getting it done.

1. Man/Woman-up: Face-toface is the only way to fire someone. Do not send them a “You’re fired” email or text message no matter how tech-savvy you are.

Get your grown-up face on and meet them in person to get this done. No matter what the issues are, they deserve your full attention.

I know it’s tough; I’ve been there. Every single time I’ve had to do this I’ve lost sleep over it …and I should.

You’re changing someone’s life, making him or her feel wrong, unwanted and unimportant. You need to take that very seriously and treat it with as much

dignity and respect as possible.

Will they still freak out and possibly cry? Perhaps. Will they think you’re the worst person in the entire world? Very likely. Will they tell everyone that they did nothing wrong and can’t believe this happened? Probably.

But none of that matters if you were honest with them, straightforward about why and respectful during the discussion. That’s all you can do.

2. Don’t “blind side”: While they are likely going to be surprised, they should be able to step back and see some signs along the way due to your diligence in coaching them and enforcing your expectations. Many companies do performance reviews on a yearly basis and that’s when they unload any and all problems.

Doing it this way is shocking to the employee; they’ll be hurt and confused if you wait until then.

Instead, as issues happen, you should be letting them know what went wrong and what you expect as their employer. You should also document each of these discussions by the date and include the facts of the discussion.

Every review, all staff should feel fairly confident about where the discussion will go due to your regular contact with them about their performance. A small word of advice – do not reprimand anyone in front of others; always take them

aside and discuss it in private.

3. KISS: This rule works here – Keep It Simple Silly! During the act of firing, the actual meeting, do not spend too long getting to the point or re-hashing every little issue. They already feel vulnerable, angry and hurt; reminding them of all the reasons why they can’t stay will only make it worse.

Just rip the Band-Aid off.

Focus on facts. Remove emotions, no matter how hard this might be for everyone involved. Be honest, but kind. Be firm, but gentle. But get it done.

4. Walk the line: When it’s over, walk them out of the office.

This is important because, unfortunately, you never know how

someone will react. You need to do your best to move them through the office quickly and with as little drama as possible.

Sometimes it goes smoothly …other times not so much!

There was a time where the employee I let go was sad and surprised, but also understood, as she knew it wasn’t really working on both sides and she was beautifully gracious as she left the office.

But one of the other times I had to go through this process, it didn’t go so smoothly. The employee (even though I had spoken to her multiple times about the same issue) was completely crushed. She cried and stormed out, all while yelling lovely things

I know it’s tough; I’ve been there.

Every single time I’ve had to do this I’ve lost sleep over it …and I should.

about me to anyone who would listen – cussing like a trucker! I just kept a calm demeanour, moved her through the office and out the door.

All you can do is keep your professional hat on and keep them moving.

5. Keep it to yourself: Letting someone go is always dramatic, but you are the boss and you need to maintain the professional atmosphere. Avoid discussing it with anyone else.

This was a confidential discussion and the reasons you let them go are your own. Their reaction was their own. They can choose to tell everyone and their brother, but you can’t.

Your next goal will be to ensure that the rest of your staff are feeling confident that they’re not next, because they will be quite nervous about that. You need everyone to know that what happened was an unfortunate part of business, but all is well, and it’s business as usual.

Amanda Ross is the owner and CES (creator, educator and strategist) of RealtyBoost (www.RealtyBoost.ca), where she helps brokerages and sales reps build strong brands, smart strategies, and more knowledge that brings value to their clients. Follow her on Twitter, @ImAmandaR and/or RealtyBoost at @RealtyBoostCA. REM

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ey! Labour Day weekend – that other national holiday, likely celebrated in B.C. with the beginnings of a general strike. Not over solidarity with the teachers (that’s right, they are still on strike during their summer vacation) but over the lax enforcement by liquor authorities over the number of ounces served in a pint of beer. We know where our priorities lie. And to give credit to the educators, it was probably a science teacher, bilingual in metric and imperial, who first discovered we were being short ounced and brought the outrage to a head. So to speak.

The other labour issue here on the left coast is the diminution of profits from the sale of B.C. bud, now that Washington State has thwarted B.C.’s once largest export by legalizing weed. In other words, gone to pot.

Labour Day deserves a little work so let’s get to it. First, a correction from the varied reaction to my July 2014 column where I announced my future retirement at column number 250 and then went on to meekly suggest there are too many Realtors in Canada.

In casting around to share the blame I tarred the Real Estate Council of B.C. (RECBC) who, prior to 2002, had enforced a regulation barring licensees from having another occupation. My quote, “That was the case in B.C. until pressure from the federal government on inter-provincial trade barriers, amid the red herrings of constitutional challenge and independent contractor, caused RECBC to change the rules.”

It was kindly pointed out the change in Regulation 9.13 (the “no other God before me” regulation) came from the provincial government, not the RECBC. My research (Google Regulation 9.13 BC Real Estate) does seem to indicate the regula-

Funny ads and Labour Day musings tion change by the government came at the request of council and with the support of the provincial association. At the time B.C. was the only jurisdiction in Canada with that rule and the industry feared that wily Alberta Realtors, unfettered by notions of singular professionalism, would cross-border poach while relying on their other jobs as cattle ranchers and oil barons to supplement their income.

Good luck with that thesis.

On the announced retirement as a column scribe, besides my editor suggesting I was a bit of a dropout, one writer, inflamed by my name-dropping a certain franchise that regularly statistically pummels his brand, suggested I not wait for column 250, rather “Now that you have become a PR flack for (brand withheld) maybe 235 would be a good number!”

Good shot.

On to humour. Regular watchers of Ellen DeGeneres’ talk show know one of the audience favourite segments highlights humorous real estate ads. One morning via CREA’s great morning news line service edited by Pierre Leduc, I followed up on this National Post headline: Realtor listings: Bad grammar and typos cost agents money. I posted it to Facebook and got a few ad mistake examples from friends.

One was the house with many brass features advertised as “bras throughout the home”. A professional communicator wrote, “I have done proofreading for Realtors so that they don’t have ads that say things like ‘rot iron railings’ and ‘parkay floors’ (both of which I’ve actually seen). I figure that, no matter the industry, people are going to be wary of a professional who can’t take the time to make sure their ads make sense. If they didn’t take enough care to get the ‘front end’ right, what else might be lacking . . .”

And in the “Who knew?” department, Pinterest has a website for bloopers in real estate ads – maybe your sign or ad are featured already! For a home with a mortgage helper suite, “lice in the first

floor apartment and let the upstairs help pay the mortgage”. For those wanting their own swimming hole, “house includes poo”. Ellen DeGeneres’ favourite – “huge dick for entertaining.” Then one of my favourite local Realtors wrote, “What’s u taking buot Marty? We’s reeltors speel fine?”

The last column of summer wouldn’t be complete without an event review. The best little music festival in my part of the world is the Vancouver Island Music Fest, hosted by the Comox Valley the second weekend in July. So good is the reputation, people fork over bags of dough before the musical line-up is announced. This year was no exception. Another soldout crowd, many island Realtors in the 10,000 daily visitors enjoying the likes of Roy Rogers and the Delta Rhythm Kings followed by the Royal Southern Brotherhood on Friday – imagine an Altman and a Neville in the same rock group. Then after a day of eclectic presentations on six stages we gather in the main concert bowl for the Lowrider Band and Bonnie Raitt.

But wait, sandwiched between is Mokoombo, a rock band that took Zimbabwe by storm. What the hell are they doing here?

Probably the same thing as Dulsori, an ensemble from Korea, here the night before.

These groups and many more perform for three days to an audience of men who wear their best tie-dyed socks and T-shirts and women who tolerate their partners’ annual sartorial lapse but walk several feet away. B.C. bud floats on the air. Beer, wine and cider flow and the mercury edges toward 34 C. It’s in the ’90s and so are some of the audience.

Contact Marty Douglas by email at mgdouglas247@gmail.com. Follow or connect with Marty on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook. He is a managing broker for Re/Max Ocean Pacific Realty in Comox and Courtenay, B.C. REM

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28 REM SEPTEMBER 2014

Agent fights own PTSD to support soldiers

By Connie Adair

M

ichelle Carduner became a real estate agent because, as cliché as it sounds, she likes to help people.

Now she’s lending a helping hand, or rather two feet, by participating in a fund-raising half marathon to benefit Canadian soldiers.

On Sept. 21, Carduner, an agent with Royal LePage Wolstencroft Realty in Langley, B.C. will fly to Ottawa to participate in the Army Run, which supports Solider On and the Military Families Fund. Soldier On works to empower retired and serving Canadian Forces members who have visible and non-visible injuries to “accept their new normal by adopting an active lifestyle through participation in physical, recreational or sporting activities,” its website says.

Carduner challenges agents across the country to pledge just $21 each, $1 for every kilometre she will run, to make a difference

in veterans’ lives.

Carduner was inspired to run after hearing the story of 21-yearold Canadian Forces Pte. Garrett Chidley, who was killed in Afghanistan on Dec. 30, 2009.

Two years ago she registered to participate in the run, but fighting her own battle with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), was unable to beat the anxiety that kept her from boarding the flight.

Last year, despite having panic attacks for three weeks prior to the run, she made it, participating in the weekend of events and the 21km half marathon. She says it was a life-altering experience to help others with PTSD or physical disabilities and she can’t wait to do it again this year.

Participating in the run has been a huge help with her own PTSD, the result of 20 years of abuse. She can relate to the soldiers. “PTSD is PTSD. It has the same triggers, reactions, the same

feelings and challenges of military PTSD. The trauma is just different.

I’m in awe of what the soldiers live with on a daily basis,” she says.

Carduner does not like to boast about her accomplishments, but wants to raise awareness about soldiers returning from war zones and the difficulties they face. “These people have given so much and their families have given so much.

We owe it to them to help out,” she says.

The most amazing thing, she adds, is the military’s support and appreciation for the civilians who participate in the marathons.

“We’re thanking them but they stop and say thanks for what we’re doing for them.”

Carduner grew up in Saskatchewan and followed her mother to B.C. after finishing university. She has lived in Langley since 1978 and prior to getting her license in 1990 worked in accounts payable and then in real estate

Michelle Carduner (Photo courtesy of Zoomphoto Inc.)

office administration. “I foolishly thought (being an agent) looked easy. There was a lot of paperwork and cutting of cheques,” she says.

“I thought, ‘I too can do this.’

Ignorance is bliss. When you don’t know what you don’t know, you go in with enthusiasm.”

A couple of real estate companies she worked with were sold and “I got sold with them,” she says.

But when she moved to another part of the city, she saw a chance for a fresh start. Her philosophy and that of her former company’s no longer matched. “If a company changes its philosophy and doesn’t

work for you, find out what does,” she advises other agents.

She joined Royal LePage Wolstencroft 18 months ago and hasn’t looked back. “I like helping people. I’ll never be No. 1 or top producer and I don’t want to be. I like having one-on-one relationships with my clients. I’m hands on,” says Carduner, who doesn’t have an assistant. “I like how I have structured my business. I’m part of something really special with these people and have made a lot of good friends. I have found my niche. You can be top dog in the kennel and grind out numbers or find your comfort spot. There’s no right or wrong way.”

Carduner’s message: “As Realtors we are blessed to work in a country that is so free from strife and we really owe a debt of gratitude to these (soldiers).”

Funds raised will “give soldiers as whole a life as possible. Imagine someone with little children and only one limb. Giving them equipment so they can go on a ski trip costs so little money but to them is their whole world. Be part of something rewarding.”

To make a pledge, visit http://goo.gl/zMee5Z REM

How to dominate a micro market

By Ryan Smith

Y

ou want to dominate a micro market? That sounds incredibly small, right? You can’t get enough business from a micro market, right? Wrong!

Every year there are thousands of agents cleaning up by taking over a micro market. Not only is it much more cost effective, but it can also make you the king or queen of your niche area. You can “own” it quicker, take a bigger market share and increase your referral business when you learn to master the art of micro marketing.

Here are four strategies you can start applying today to take over your micro market: 1. Choose a micro geographic

niche: If you are looking to start a micro geographic niche, it’s helpful if you already have some “ins” within the area. For example, if you live in a specific neighbourhood, condo building or area, it can be advantageous to start there. An important consideration is the turnover rate.

Just because you live there doesn’t mean it will be worth pursuing.

Some industry experts suggest a seven to 10-per-cent turnover per year or more as a good indicator of a healthy market rate.

Keep in mind you aren’t going to get 100 per cent of the deals in the area, but if you can aim to eventually take 20 per cent or more of the sales, you can start to make it a very profitable venture. Let’s take a neighbourhood of 500 homes as an example. Let’s say there is a 10-percent turnover in the area – that’s 50 home sales a year. If you can get to 20-per-cent market share, that’s 10 listing sales a year.

Don’t forget that many of these sellers will be buying and you also have the opportunity to double-

end the deals. So let’s call it 20 sales in one year from 500-home micro geographic area. Not too shabby, I’d say.

2. Build an online community: One way to get into the micro market community for little to no cost is to create a local blog/social media space. You can update it with events, news and insider information. You may also want to pepper in your own real estate information for a little extra exposure. This is a great way to reach your audience online and stay connected. There are a number of agents who have taken this concept and run with it and had tremendous success. They have not only become the community ambassadors, but are also now seen as the experts in their area. If done correctly, this method costs little and can be highly effective in taking over your micro market.

3. Create a newsletter: A great way to connect and engage with your micro market is to create a community or business newsletter.

The great thing about this strategy

is that it allows you to be in control of the media your consumers are getting. You can bring in your preferred partners to help create content, pay for costs, distribute to their database and also to add credibility. A monthly newsletter can be an excellent way to stay in contact with your audience at a very low cost and in a consistent manor.

Don’t forget that you still need to connect in real life – don’t hide behind the newsletter. Remember, this is still a belly-to-belly business.

4. Build an email list: If you plan to get the most out of your micro market, you need to ensure you are doing everything you can to capture email addresses. Any agent can get phone numbers, but if you build a list of emails in your area, you can get the right information in front of the right people at the right time. Get registrations at open houses, get sign ups on your community pages, host local contests/giveaways in exchange for emails, do online marketing to get sign ups.

Remember to follow the rules of the new anti-spam legislation.

What are you waiting for?

Taking over a micro market isn’t hard, you just need to be consistent and persistent with the right actions, and before you know it, the neighbourhood will be yours. The great thing about these strategies is they can all be intertwined. You can connect your newsletter to your community groups and website and collect emails so you can stay in touch with what is going on in the area.

Get out there and start owning your micro market. A year from now you don’t want to wish you had started a year ago.

Ryan Smith is a real estate sales professional and the creator of The Niche Agent podcast/blog (http://thenicheagent.com).

The Niche Agent provides insights from industry leaders and was created to help agents looking to find, master and dominate their niches. REM

...and this is what it took An eager real estate agent asked for a short summary of what it took to be Founder & Chairman of EXIT Realty Corp. International. I thought about it and wrote down some of my experiences in this capacity. I showed him just before another ’60 Minutes with EXIT’ presentation and his jaw dropped.

In 17 years I have: Spent 12,410 hours affirming Flown in 1,875 airplanes Traveled the equivalent of 75 times around the world -

Steve Morris Founder & Chairman EXIT Realty Corp. International

Stayed in 938 hotel rooms Packed my bags 7,500 times Presented 690 “60 Minutes with EXIT” events Taught 57 “Power Selling 101” group presentations Hosted 88 Broker Trainings Hosted 22 Regional Owner Trainings Attended 15 NAR Conventions Hosted/presented 15 EXIT Annual Conventions Attended 1,200 Breakfast meetings Attended 1,400 dinner meetings Spent 6,800 hours of waiting in airports Lost my luggage 8 times Attended 58 trade shows Spent 1,100 hours in taxi cabs Spent 2,700 hours teaching groups Spent 1,100 hours writing Spent 4,700 hours in strategic planning Spent 2,068 hours in meditation Slept for 37,230 hours Spent 680 hours signing cheques and contracts Enjoyed 68 weeks of vacations Taken 21 days off for an appendix operation Taken 5 days off sick -

www.exitrealty.com REM_EXIT Realty_September 2014.indd 1

Needless to say, he was no longer interested in the job.

14-08-12 3:20 PM

30 REM SEPTEMBER 2014

How to be king of the CASL “C

an I add you to my email list?” Are these words part of your client cultivation vocabulary yet?

They should be.

Now that the Canadian AntiSpam Legislation (CASL) is law, sales reps, as users of electronic marketing tools, need to be aware of some Dos and Don’ts.

As an earlier REM article pointed out, the intent of CASL (effective July 1, 2014), is to stop hackers and spammers from preying on customers using commercial electronic messages (CEM).

The difference between spammers and legitimate marketers is that the latter has received consent from individuals. In a nutshell, the CASL rules are straightforward: • No more mass emails to strangers.

• Get consent from potential clients, either expressed or implied.

• Provide opportunity for contacts to opt-out or unsubscribe.

• Respect your contacts’ decision to opt-in or out of

marketing messages.

So, if your marketing includes sending emails, faxes or private messages on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram or LinkedIn, the new law requires that you only send to those who have consented.

More specifically, here’s what CASL means to sales reps: • You cannot send electronic messages to lists (including lists you have bought!) unless you get consent from each person on that list who will receive an email (and be prepared to prove that consent was obtained if challenged).

• You can continue to use your website to generate leads and you can respond to consumer inquiries from your personal, company or franchise website.

• You cannot automatically put all website leads on an email campaign without express consent.

• You can harvest emails from other people’s personal or company websites but only if they do not have a “do not send me commercial offers” disclaimer on that

site. (Be sure to document where and when you got the email, ideally saving a screen shot to prove there was no disclaimer.)

Express Consent vs. Implied Consent: When getting permission to add people to your email list, CASL makes a clear distinction between express consent and implied consent. Express consent is when a contact explicitly agrees to receive electronic marketing messages from you.

“Would you like to receive messages from me?” You have express consent when they say yes. This is your best-case scenario because express consent never needs to be reconfirmed (it’s good forever).

It’s a lot less complicated to manage on a go-forward basis.

It’s also on-side to send CEMs to individuals where you have implied consent. Under CASL you can claim Implied Consent from a contact if you’ve had a business dealing with them – someone who voluntarily dropped a business card at your open house, someone with whom

By Jon MacCall

you have transacted business, or have signed a buyer agency or listing agreement.

The key with implied consent is to keep track of the last business dealing with that contact as well as the date because this type of consent expires after two years. This means you have two years to convert your implied to express consent or to have another business dealing with that person to reset the two-year clock.

As you can see, keeping track of implied consent expiry dates can soon get tricky if you have a goodsized book to manage. Pen and paper may no longer be a viable technology for managing your book.

You can still send an email to answer a consumer inquiry, for example in response to a website lead request for information on a specific listing. What you can’t do anymore is to automatically put all website leads on an email “drip campaign” unless they provide express consent. CASL requires that your response be

limited to answering the original inquiry. A long back-and-forth exchange is okay, as long as the consumer is in control of the conversation.

The bottom line: get consent and keep track. Whatever technology you decide to use for tracking leads and contacts – whether that technology is pen and paper or state-of-the-art CRM – make sure it works for your business. For every contact you have, you should also be able to prove consent to contact.

Jon MacCall, B.Sc., MBA, P.Eng. is president of Jumptools.com, a provider of cloudhosted marketing and sales management tools to real estate salespeople and brokerages. As a former IBM software developer turned entrepreneur, he has designed and launched software solutions across different industries such as telecommunications, national defence, financial services and real estate. He is a licensed sales rep. Email jmaccall@jumptools.com REM

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32 REM SEPTEMBER 2014

STOP SELLING HOUSES & START MAKING MONEY

By Debbie Hanlon

I

n September 2006, anyone 13 years of age or older with a valid email address could join this new-fangled website with the strange name of Facebook – and did they ever join! The site grew at the unbelievable rate of over 100 million users a year. Now everyone could keep tabs on how much their kids were drinking and what their friends were eating for lunch.

Society became connected in a way it had never been before.

It also allowed businesses to interact with customers and potential customers in ways never before imagined. More than 25 million

Put a smile on your Facebook businesses and professionals have taken advantage of that opportunity. Why wouldn’t they? It’s free and it’s easy, two things everybody loves when it comes to advertising their goods and services. Thus began the age of social marketing, but how have real estate professionals adapted to and used this new medium?

Unfortunately, from what I’ve found researching this topic, the answer is not very well. Most sales reps have a personal page where some also post their listings and other real estate themed messages.

A smaller percentage have created actual business pages where they offer their services to the Facebook community. Some even buy Facebook ads that will appear in your news feed from time to time.

Other than a small group of agents who obviously have dedicated marketing people behind them, the way most agents use Facebook as a marketing tool is abysmal. That, however, is to be expected if they don’t have any marketing experience or knowledge. Luckily for me I worked in

LEADING INDEPENDENT NDENT BROKERAGES

marketing prior to getting into real estate, so I had half a clue anyway.

I knew from experience I had to be consistent. That is one of the golden rules of marketing. It’s no good to post something when you’re in the mood, or when something happens that you think is worth posting. You pretty much have to post on a predetermined schedule: every day, every second day, as long as it’s consistent. It has to be engaging or people will simply ignore it. For instance, one agent announced an open house by posting the date, time and place in a single sentence. No picture of the house, no benefit to someone buying it such as it being close to schools. No, just one sentence floating face down in a sea of sentences on a Facebook page. I don’t think that left anyone thinking, wow I’ve got to check that open house out.

What you’re trying to do on Facebook is what you should be trying to do everywhere else you do marketing. You’re not selling houses, you’re selling yourself. It’s a brand-building experience. That’s

why you have to be consistent and engaging. It’s also why you have to be patient. It will not happen overnight. There is not one Facebook posting that will get people calling your number. It’s an accumulation of repeated messages that will leave you as the first sales rep someone thinks of when the subject comes up. TOMA, Top of Mind Awareness is what you’re after. That takes time to build. It takes many engaging messages.

I prefer posting real estate on my personal page. That way people know me the person as well as me the real estate agent. They can know that I’m doing a public reading and I’ve listed a new property all in the same day. They get to see different sides of me and I like that.

It shows I’m not just one-dimensional.

I also post a fun fact with a picture every day. That’s been getting amazing feedback from people and I even got deals because of them.

The fun facts have been about everything from the invention of the toilet bowl to fish that have a saw for a mouth. What does this

have to do with selling houses?

Nothing, it has to do with selling me. At the end of each fact is a call to action along with my picture and contact info.

Check out my Facebook page at www.facebook.com/Debbie.

Hanlon2?fref=ts and you’ll see what I mean. Whatever way you want to approach the free marketing on Facebook, remember these three simple guidelines: be consistent, be engaging and have fun because if it’s not fun for you it’s probably not fun for anyone else.

That’s a fun fact to remember.

Debbie Hanlon is a real estate broker who has helped train hundreds of sales reps and brokered and managed a national real estate franchise.

She also founded an independent real estate firm. Currently she coaches sales reps all over the world. She is the CEO of All Knight Inc, a global educational mobile company, as well as a published children’s author and the creator of the national I’m No Bully Show. https://www.facebook.com/missdebbieandfriends REM

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has become an integral part of the Realty Network; which now reaches from coast to coast with member companies serving over 1200 markets nationally. Under the leadership of Greg Power, broker/owner, this strong addition to brings over 27 years of experience to the markets of St. John’s and Mount Pearl.

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34 REM SEPTEMBER 2014

T

he Nova Scotia Association of Realtors’ (NSAR) online Salesperson Licensing Course (SLC) has been recognized by the Real Estate Educators Association (REEA) as the 2014 Program of the Year.

The award is presented each year during the REEA Annual Business Meeting. The winner is chosen from applications from across North America. This award recognizes REEA member contributions to Realtor education, with the winning program deemed the most successful and impactful education effort of the year.

The course “is a fine illustration of the special abilities of the Realtor community to design learning opportunities for its

membership while simultaneously honouring requirements of regulatory bodies,” says Carmel Streater, awards chairperson with REEA. “We hope to see many more such programs in the future.”

The program is delivered by NSAR through an agreement with the Nova Scotia Real Estate Commission and is mandatory for individuals applying to obtain a real estate license in Nova Scotia.

The course takes into account multiple styles of learning by incorporating audio, video and reading components. The program is self-directed so the learner may work online at their own pace, within a six-month time period.

The Chatham - Kent Association of Realtors recently hosted more than 80 agents and local business people at the June Chamber of Commerce Business After Hours event. The outdoor tropical-themed event was well received and even bad weather couldn’t dampen the enthusiasm. From left: Jennifer and Tony Hill of Re/Max Chatham-Kent Realty and Ron Smith, president of the association.

ASR members, staff and friends took part in a west-side Saskatoon Habitat for Humanity build recently.

■ ■ ■

The Real Estate Institute of Canada (REIC) and The Mississauga Real Estate Board (MREB) recently announced a joint partnership to deliver advanced education to real estate professionals in Mississauga.

MREB will offer courses leading to the Fellow of the Real Estate Institute (FRI) designation as well as the National Association of Realtors (NAR) courses leading to their designations and certifications.

“The FRI designation has long been the hallmark of high standards of client services, professionalism and ethics,” says REIC executive director and CEO Maura McLaren. “We are delighted to partner with MREB to deliver our programs. Our rigorous course content provides practical skills and knowledge and will help advance the professional profile and marketability of MREB members.”

nizes a member’s sustained commitment and outstanding contribution to the REIC at both the national and chapter levels. It is the highest award bestowed on a member and is part of the REIC Pursuit of Excellence Awards program. Simpson has been a member of REIC for over 30 years and has been a strong champion and promoter of REIC, raising awareness of the institute and its designation programs. He is both a chapter past-president and administrator and has served as a mentor for new members.

Skead is a past-president of REIC National and has served on numerous committees and task forces. As a strong advocate of education, she is an REIC and IREM faculty member and has played an important role in ensuring REIC course content is relevant and leading edge, says the institute.

■ ■ ■

■ ■ ■

REIC presented the 2014 REIC Emeritus Award to Bruce Simpson and Chrystal Skead during REIC’s Annual Conference and AGM in Winnipeg recently.

The Emeritus Award recog-

The London and St. Thomas Association of Realtors recently announced the recipients of this year’s LSTAR Scholarship bursary of $1,500 each. They are Morgan Austin, the granddaughter of

The Real Estate Board of the Fredericton Area president Diana Otteson recently presented Ed Carten of Exit Realty Advantage with a certificate and gift to acknowledge 30 years in real estate.

Walter Moore of Town and Country Market Realty and Kevin MacDonald of Re/Max Group Four Realty are presented with their 25-year certificates at a general meeting of The Real Estate Board of the Fredericton Area.

LSTAR member Peter Christensen; Laura McFalls, the daughter of member Jeff McFalls; Benjamen Stafl, the grandson of member Yvonne Collyer; and Kale Waram, the grandson of members Mike and Lynn Brady.

The scholarship recognizes two male and two female students who are university or college-bound and in their last year of high school.

■ ■ ■

Members of the Association of Saskatchewan Realtors (ASR), staff, board members and friends took part in a west-side Saskatoon Habitat for Humanity build recently. Fence building and fill/gravel placement were the tasks for the nine-person volunteer crew, adding up to 72 peoplehours of hard labour in one sweaty Saturday.

Several ASR board members were on post-hole drilling duty for the better part of the day, and business dress was exchanged for hard hats, work jeans and steeltoed boots. “It’s obviously nice to see friends and colleagues giving back to your community,” says Len Wassill, president of the ASR

From left: MREB president Allan Todd; MREB EO Donna Metcalfe; REIC director of education and business development Leslie Lucas; MREB manager, communications and education services M.K. Areola; and MREB past-president Jerry England.

Presenting the cheques from the Cornwall and District Real Estate Board’s golf tournament, from left: Joanne Ouellette from Scotiabank; Cornwall board committee members Penny Rudderham, Fay Allott and Dale Rudderham; and Jackie Richards from the Boys & Girls Club.

From left: Donna Buchan, Lutherwood executive director; John Colangeli, Lutherwood CEO; Kelly Craigmile, Lutherwood Residential Program supervisor; Andrew Fielding, chair of KWAR’s Golf Task Force; and Lynn Bebenek, president of KWAR.

REM SEPTEMBER 2014 35

and lead post-hole driller, “but it’s particularly nice to see a range of ages and capabilities coming together and making a project like this happen.”

■ ■ ■

The Realtors Association of H a m i l t o n - B u r l i n g t o n ’s (RAHB)Annual Charity Golf Tournament raised more than $12,067 for the Home Ownership Affordability Program (HOAP) and the Karan Barker Memorial Scholarship Fund.

HOAP is a unique affordable housing initiative in which RAHB, the City of Hamilton and Scotiabank partner to help families in social housing become homeowners. The Karan Barker Memorial Scholarship Fund provides scholarships to the children and grandchildren of RAHB members and staff.

The RAHB Charity Golf Tournament has raised over $224,000 in support of local charities since 1997.

■ ■ ■

The Cornwall and District Real Estate Board’s annual charity golf tournament was held recently, with proceeds going to the Boys & Girls Club, Club Optimiste (Hawkesbury), the Realtors Care Foundation and three area food banks. The tournament raised $5,000, which was matched by Scotiabank. The final donation was more than $12,500.

■ ■ ■

The Kitchener-Waterloo Association of Realtors (KWAR) donated $17,755 to benefit Lutherwood’s Safe Haven Shelter.

The funds were raised through the association’s 21st annual charity golf tournament.

At Safe Haven, children between the ages of 12 and 18 can find safety, shelter and support.

Children knock on the door, any time of day and get a place to sleep and eat, as well as counseling to help them find a better direction in their lives. “Last year almost 600 children came to Safe Haven,” says Donna Buchan, executive director of Lutherwood Child and Family Foundation. “Many of these children are experiencing conflict and family breakdown, struggling with mental health issues, poverty and conflict with the law, addiction and abusive home situations.”

REM

36 REM SEPTEMBER 2014

Live like The King

A WELCOME ADDITION TO OUR CANADIAN NETWORK ®

The Coldwell Banker network is pleased to announce that Michael Griffith has acquired Coldwell Banker Burnhill Realty, a Burlington, Ontario firm founded by Lee Pagliaro 25 years ago. Lee Pagliaro, will continue to be a part of the brokerage he founded to assist in a smooth ownership transition, and focus on personal selling.

Michael is a fourth generation Burlington resident and a graduate of the University of Guelph with an Hons. B.Comm and completed his Masters Degree. Upon affiliating with Coldwell Banker Burnhill Realty in 2004, he quickly became a high profile and award-winning agent while serving both his community and organized real estate.

Michael plans to leverage his considerable business skills and real estate experience in his new ownership role as he continues to build the brokerage.

Please join us in wishing Michael Griffith and Coldwell Banker Burnhill Realty enduring success. “ O u r m a r ke t i s b e c o m i n g i n c r e a s i n g l y p o p u l a r, a n d C o l d w e l l B a n ke r o f f e r s t h e d e e p r e s o u r c e s w e’l l n e e d to h e l p o u r p e o p l e r e a c h t h e i r f u l l p o te n t i a l ” Michael Griffith C o l d w e l l B a n ke r B u r n h i l l R e a l t y B r o ke r a g e 9 0 5.6 3 9. 3 3 5 5

TORONTO O O O ORO

FERGUS E GUS ER

GEORGETOWN M IS MIS MISSISSAUGA S AU G AUG GUELPH U L UE UEL

KITCHENER C ENE E

MILTON OAKVILLE LL E LAKE ONTARIO CAMBRIDGE

By Dan St. Yves

E

ven Great Britain can’t boast a ruler living like a king just yet, given the Queen’s remarkable longevity on the throne (or cursed persistence if you happen to be someone like …Prince Charles, for example).

However, if YOU wanted to live like a king – specifically the King of Rock and Roll, start saving your money. You can do it in Las Vegas.

I recently attended the 2014 Las Vegas Elvis Festival, held at what is now The Westgate Las Vegas Resort & Casino. Prior to that, it was briefly the LVH, The Las Vegas Hilton, and The International Hotel. If you’re an Elvis Presley fan, either one of those last two incarnations will remind you that long before Celine Dion and Cirque du Soleil ruled the strip, Presley broke all the box office records established before him during his run from 1969 through the early 1970s. He also lived in a luxurious 30th-floor suite, which was part of a behindthe-scenes tour offered during the festival.

Talk about prime Vegas real estate! A staggering 15,400 sq. ft. of living space in just one of three villas sitting high above the casino and showroom, with views of the entire city of Las Vegas below.

While much has changed since the time this penthouse housed Elvis and his entourage, it is nonetheless pretty surreal to walk freely through his old stomping grounds.

There’s plenty of space to sing in the numerous showers, or if you prefer, to shoot out TV screens if you happen to see or hear Robert Goulet appearing on them (some-

Dan St. Yves poses in Elvis’ Las Vegas suite.

thing Elvis is apparently famous for doing in this space).

There are marble floors and hand-painted ceilings everywhere, an ornate bar area, plus a piano room adjacent to a living room.

There is a TV area, as well as more Jacuzzis than you could use in a week of Jacuzzi-ing. You may even recognize some of these extravagant finishes if you watch TV. HBO’s Liberace biopic Behind the Candelabra was filmed in this suite, as well as in the showroom where Elvis performed 837 sold-out shows back in the day.

After just a short while inside, you simply forget that you are 30 floors up, especially when walking around the private pool and outdoor grounds built within the interior of the surrounding villa. When you do look outside, you might have seen the new owner tossing the old LVH lettering down off of the marquee, to make way for the new signage. You know, if you happened to be named Louis V. Huntington, you may just have a

place for those old letters on your own home or garage wall, but be forewarned, they appear to be a good six feet tall or more.

Look how I’ve rambled on – I still haven’t even mentioned that if you’re a high roller or entertainer, you can stay in this suite (named Verona), or the other two, Tuscany and Conrad. You might choose to be like rock legend Robert Plant though, and ask to stay in the smaller suite Elvis used when he wanted to get away from his entourage on occasion.

However, big-name star or mere mortal, you can stay in this historic lodging. It’s a mere $17,500 per night – but there are some substantial bragging rights to say you lived like a king, or The King, even briefly!

Humour columnist and author Dan St. Yves was licensed with Royal LePage Kelowna for 11 years. Check out his website at www.nonsenseandstuff.com, or contact him at danst.yves@hotmail.com. REM

BURLINGTON N ON COLDWELL BANKER BURNHILL REALTY

What’s

HAM TO HAMILTON ON ON PARIS

BRANTFORD NT O D

ST ST. T CATHARINES T. CATHARINE AT S

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For a confidential conversation about franchise oppor tunities with Coldwell Banker in Canada, call M a r k L i n d s e y, R e g i o n a l V i c e P r e s i d e n t, Fr a n c h i s e S a l e s

1.8 0 0. 26 8.9 59 9 ex t. 4 0 2 Owned and Operated. Coldwell Banker and the Coldwell Banker Logo are registered service marks owned by Coldwell Banker LLC. Each sales representative and broker is responsible for complying with any consumer disclosure laws or regulations. Any use of the term “sales associate” or “agent” shall be replaced with the term “sales representative” in Canada. Not intended to solicit Brokers under a current franchise agreement.

New

Verico offers $5,000 home improvement prizes Clients of Verico mortgage brokers can win one of six prizes of $5,000 to go towards their home renovations through the Verico Purchase Plus Improvements Contest. Another four prizes are still up for grabs.

A Purchase Plus Improvement mortgage gives qualifying clients the ability to access up to $40,000 for the purpose of renovations.

This amount is rolled up into their mortgage so clients are able pay it off as a part of their regular

mortgage payments.

The mortgage option allows home buyers, especially first-timers, to take their first step into home ownership and still have the funds to renovate their purchase.

Brad Nemes of Verico Capital Mortgages and Martin Marshall of Verico Canada, recently presented a cheque to winners Marc Pepin and Rebecca Thompson of Toronto.

Earlier, Dean Larson and Aaron Marsh of Verico Compass Mortgage; Sean Widdess and Jared Dreyer at Verico Canada presented a cheque to winners Ryan Bohonos and Elaine Bohonos of New Westminster, B.C. REM

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38 REM SEPTEMBER 2014

Good Works M

ore than 170 golfers and 40 volunteers gathered at the Alberta Springs Golf Course in Red Deer, Alta. for the 3rd Annual Royal LePage Network Realty Corp. Golf Tournament in support of the Royal LePage Shelter Foundation and the Central Alberta Women’s Emergency Shelter (CAWES).

During the dinner and auction, CAWES executive director Ian Wheeliker accepted a $21,500

cheque representing donations made by Royal LePage agents from their commissions. In addition, $44,000 was raised at the tournament, bringing the three-year total to nearly $130,000.

In a mock prize draw, Wheeliker was led to believe he was the winner of a new laptop and graciously insisted that the laptop go to the shelter. He was then surprised to see tournament organizers produce 16 additional laptops –

one for each room in the shelter and two spares.

“On a recent tour of the shelter, I noticed that once women put their children to bed, there was very little for them to do in their bedrooms,” says Norm Jenson, owner-manager of the brokerage.

“Having a laptop each will allow the women in shelter some entertainment, as well as a resource for searching for employment and housing.”

■ ■ ■

Earlier this year, the chairman of Habitat for Humanity Lethbridge (HFHL) asked Audrey King, broker at Sutton Group Lethbridge, if she would consider organizing the HFHL Charity Golf Tournament. It had been on a three-year hiatus due to logistical challenges and funds from the

John-Ross Parks and Connie Carson of Royal LePage ProAlliance Realty sell Rockfest for Shelter tickets.

Tony Browton and Krista Martin-Dempster

The organizing committee members from Sutton Group Lethbridge, from left: Michele Mihalik, Marie Oliver, Dave Lelek, Ron Lagemaat, Audrey King, Jo Ann Kelly, Mike Murillo and Trish Lyons. Missing from the photo are Daniel Shapiro, Russell Raslask and Elmira Hiebert.

Rob Smith, left, associate with Royal LePage Benchmark and member of the in-house shelter committee, with volunteer drivers with the Calgary Food Bank.

The Stuff the Hummer event raised funds for the local food bank.

Winners of the Kelowna Rally Cup were The Westside Spitfires, pictured here with Royal LePage Kelowna manager Steve Gray (centre). Westside Spitfires members, from left: Karen Flavin, Anita Clegg, Joan Woods and Sheryl Lobsinger.

Winners of the Royal LePage Real Estate Services West Toronto Offices “Travelling Trophy,” from left: brokers Alun Evans, Royal LePage Real Estate Services; Mario Hermenegildo, Royal LePage Vendex Realty; and Michael Stothers, Royal LePage Real Estate Services.

REM SEPTEMBER 2014 39

event were sorely missed for vital housing projects. King took on the challenge and the event raised $16,000.

“We were thrilled to pick up the pieces and host this tournament,” says King. Her brokerage was the title sponsor and there were 80 more sponsors and donors.

King and her team of salespeople and the office manager worked for months to plan and promote the event.

■ ■ ■

Recently The Going Home Team of Re/Max Twin City Realty in Waterloo, Ont. hosted its fourth annual Stuff the Hummer movie in the park event. Admission was free with the donation of food or funds to the Food Bank of Waterloo Region. Each dollar raised allowed $8 worth of emergency food to be distributed to those in need.

There was a barbecue and games and the opportunity for guests to vote for their favourite film to play later on in the evening on a 30-foot outdoor screen. The event drew nearly 700 people and raised $21,138 worth of food.

Broker David Shooley parks his Hummer outside each venue where volunteers collect donations. The team has raised more than $140,341 worth of food bank support.

■ ■ ■

At the recent Rockfest outdoor music festival in Belleville, organized by Royal LePage ProAlliance, broker/owner Mark Rashotte and 40 volunteers sold

Rockfest Raffle tickets over four evenings, raising an impressive $5,500 for the Royal LePage Shelter Foundation.

The grand prize winner took home a guitar signed by the festival acts including Huey Lewis and the News, Sammy Hagar, Weezer, The Trews, Glass Tiger and George Canyon. All funds will be donated to the Three Oaks Shelter in Belleville, Ont. and Alternatives for Women in Picton.

■ ■ ■

For every house they sell, sales reps Tony Browton and Krista Martin-Dempster of Sutton Group Realty Services in Gibsons, B.C. are donating one bench at a bus stop.

“So far we have supplied 10 benches and have another eight on order,” says Browton. “We had a great first year and are hoping that by the end of next year we will be able to supply a bench to every bus stop that needs one from Langdale to Upper Gibsons.”

They are inviting people to let them know of locations that would benefit from seating by sending them a note through their Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/KTONTHECOAST. ■ ■ ■

Re/Max is a supporter of Children’s Miracle Network and was recently a presenting sponsor of the third annual Rev It Up for SickKids event, an initiative founded in 2012 by a group of motorcycle enthusiasts in Ontario.

In March 2013, the group pledged

to raise $500,000 for The Hospital for Sick Children, also known as SickKids Hospital.

Bruce Johnson, a sales rep with Re/Max of Wasaga Beach and his daughter Holly took a motorcycle ride to Costa Rica earlier this year in their Motorcycle for Miracles journey in support of SickKids.

Along with Alex Lombardi, sales rep at Re/Max Premier, and many other Re/Max associates, they played a large role in ensuring the Rev It Up event went off without a hitch.

More than 200 people took part, including 30 motorcycle riders and 45 people on a party bus.

The funds raised will be used to purchase equipment used to monitor oxygen levels and to assess the heart’s ability to distribute oxygen throughout a child’s body.

The event raised $50,000 of the $250,000 that has been collected to date.

■ ■ ■

Royal LePage Benchmark in Calgary recently held a successful food bank drive.

“We decided this year we would shift our food bank drive from Christmas time to Stampede, since the food bank indicated they are slower during the holiday summer months,” says broker/owner Corinne Lyall. “We called out for donations from the agents and received enough money to purchase 71 bags of food from Safeway.”

■ ■ ■

With their hearts on their sleeves and their bras on the out-

side, the Fling’em for Breast Cancer gala in Stratford, Ont. raised $17,700 to help breast cancer patients with the costs of wigs, prostheses, palliative care, child care and other expenses not covered by standard health care plans.

Nearly 350 women participated in this year’s key fundraiser for Braz for the Cause including Shannon Doell, a sales rep with Sutton Group - First Choice Realty.

For the third year in a row, Doell recruited participants and arranged facilities where they could work on their costumes.

Fifteen women joined her in the quest to assist local cancer patients. Their costumes were inspired by the “minions” from Despicable Me and featured bright tutus and bras.

“There are so many charities involved in cancer research, which is very important, but I love that this event helps local Stratford patients,” says Doell.

phy and bragging rights until the 2015 tournament.

The “Just One Book” Campaign, an initiative started by the Re/Max Garden City Realty brokerage in St. Catharines, Ont., encourages every agent to sell “just one book” of raffle tickets. Top prizes include $1,000 cash and two season passes to OHL Ice Dogs games.

To date, the brokerage has raised more than $52,000 for the One Foundation for the Niagara Health System, where their donations ensure healthcare providers are equipped with tools required to diagnose, treat, and care for the community.

“The event really brings (home) the reality of the needs of our families and friends and the support of our office is almost at the 100-per-cent mark,” says Phyllis Gleeson, broker/manager.

■ ■ ■

■ ■ ■

Now in its 21st year, the annual golf tournament hosted by Royal LePage Real Estate Services West Toronto offices raised $20,000 for the Royal LePage Shelter Foundation as 144 golfers turned out. The popular tournament has raised $57,000 in support of local women’s shelters since 2010.

This year, winners of the coveted “Travelling Trophy” are Alun Evans, Mario Hermenegildo and Michael Stothers from the Royal LePage Real Estate Services Oakville Town Centre office and Royal LePageVendex Realty, who will maintain possession of the tro-

Royal LePage Kelowna brokers, agents and staff participated in an exciting, citywide road rally in support of the Royal LePage Shelter Foundation recently. The Amazing Race-style event included 10 teams of four who navigated a route map to complete a variety of challenges, including donning frozen T-shirts and ordering coffee from a drive-through on foot.

Points were awarded based on completed challenges, speed, costumes and funds raised.

The event raised $3,800 in support of local women’s shelters.

■ ■ ■

Announcement Great Leadership Continues in Newfoundland & Labrador RE/MAX INTEGRA is proud to announce this magnificent succession story of Ted Rowe, our founding partner in bringing the RE/MAX system to the Province of Newfoundland. Our partnership with Ted began when he opened the first RE/MAX office in St. John’s Newfoundland in 1983. RE/MAX quickly became a household name under Ted’s leadership, where the brand has grown to a total of 14 RE/MAX offices with 180 Sales Associates.

Over the course of the past eight years, Ted has methodically executed his succession plan. His transition began in 2006 with the sale of RE/MAX Realty Specialists in St. John’s and RE/MAX United in Mount Pearl to Keith Bradbury, Jim Burton and Kevin King. In November of last year, Mr. Joe Wells, a Sales Associate with the Clarenville office for over 5 years, purchased the Clarenville, Carbonear, Marystown and Bay Roberts offices of RE/MAX East Coast Realty Ltd. and are operating under the name of RE/MAX Eastern Edge Realty Ltd. Also in November, Carol Anstey, another 5 year Associate with RE/MAX Realty Professionals Ltd., purchased the company which operates 4 locations in Deer Lake, Corner Brook, Stephenville and Happy Valley-Goose Bay. In January of this year, Ted sold RE/MAX Central Real Estate Ltd., which has locations in Grandfalls-Windsor and Springdale, to Robert McDonald and Mark Beson, both Sales Associates with the company since 1999 and 2005 respectively.

This past month, marks the end of an era, as Ted has sold his last remaining RE/MAX offi ce, in Conception Bay South, to 12 year RE/MAX veteran, Jim Burton, who will operate the offi ce under his new company banner, RE/MAX Infinity Realty Inc. Jim has been successfully selling Real Estate in the St. John’s area for 27 Years. As founder and leader of the award winning “Jim Burton Sales Team” since 1998, Jim is also a past member of the Board of Directors of the Rotary Club of St. John’s Northwest, the board of Directors of the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation (Atlantic Canada) and a current member of the Board of Directors of Hope Air. Jim is currently Chairperson of the Canadian Cancer Society - NL “Dream Team” Relay for Life. He is also a past Director of the Janeway Children’s Hospital Foundation, the St. John’s Real Estate Board and a previous Director of the Canadian Homebuilders Association - Eastern Newfoundland and the St. John’s Board of Trade.

With the fantastic talent that each of these new Broker/Owners will bring to the Newfoundland real estate landscape, the future of RE/MAX is very bright on the Rock!

We, at RE/MAX INTEGRA, are excited to see where these new talented owners will take us, as they continue to build the brand in their own areas of the Province.

Ted Rowe

Please join us in congratulating everyone involved and wishing them all the very best in their careers at RE/MAX.

Jim Burton

REM

40 REM SEPTEMBER 2014

Whistler Continued from page 3

council in this.”

Wilhelm-Morden, like others in the real estate industry, views the website as an unfortunate extension of the dispute. “It is really quite unfair in my opinion,” she says.

Whistler Real Estate owner Pat Kelly is a 33-year veteran of the area. His company did the original sales on behalf of the developer nearly a decade ago.

Kelly has also met with the minority owners and voiced his concerns about the website. “It is trying to give Whistler a black eye,” and he says it’s undeserved, especially at a time when the real estate market in the international resort town is on the rebound after some difficult years. Kelly says owners of units within any building who have problems can seek advice and redress from a variety of B.C. government outlets including the Consumer Protection Branch and the Real Estate Council of B.C. Real estate agent Sally Warner of Re/Max Sea to Sky Real Estate

GET

Whistler, who is familiar with the Phase II market, says the Nita Lake dispute is atypical and not indicative of the relationships that most Phase II suite owners have with their building managers.

Nita Lake Lodge is a short shuttle ride from the village.

According to TripAdvisor, which rates the lodge as the No. 1 choice in Whistler today, patrons favour it because it is secluded from the busy village and because it’s close to a passenger rail station. The boutique property, which has 77 Phase II units, was marketed with presales in 2007-2009, but the market was on a downward spiral.

By 2011, the developer was not able to meet his bank commitments. The property was moving towards insolvency.

Majority owner Scholz said he “fell in love with the place” and stepped in during 2011 to forge a deal with the developer, purchasing the majority of units that had not sold earlier. Scholz claims the management company was also heading towards insolvency so he acted as the majority shareholder, took over the role of manager and

AT HOME!

12 ISSUES

rewrote the revenue-sharing agreement that is now digging the property out of its financial hole.

He said that the earlier revenue-sharing formula for the units was modelled after larger properties “that had 75 per cent occupancy and 260 rooms” while the lodge had about a quarter the number of rooms. The old revenue-sharing agreement saw owners of Phase II units keep 55 per cent of the booking revenues, with the other 45 per cent going to the management and operating costs of the structure.

“The formula didn’t work,” says Scholz. He says there is a higher cost per suite to carry amenities in boutique properties.

“The cost of operating is 30 per cent (taxes and resort fees) higher here,” he says.

The Nita Lake Lodge has 82 units (five commercial and 77 residential). Scholz owns the commercial units and 57 of the Phase II units, giving him more than an 80 per cent majority in the lodge.

Eleven of the 20 remaining units have signed on to the new agreement that Scholz inked. It gives 25 per cent of revenue to the unit holders until a set dollar value is reached; then it is returned to 50 per cent. Scholz says now the property is starting to show a modest profit.

The minority owners want their units held to the old agreement and want their own rental manager, according to published press reports.

Scholz, a former lawyer and partner in Vancouver law firm turned businessman, says the minority owners have taken him to court on several occasions, but the court maintained, “I was reacting reasonably to fix the problem.” He says that in the three years he has been involved in the property, he has not received any return on his investment.

Scholz is also claiming that the minority owners supported a previous manager who left, and then the 2011 Christmas deposits totalling $395,000 couldn’t be located. Scholz claims he had to cover that major financial loss. In addition, going to court has cost him legal fees and there has been a loss of revenue from the rooms withdrawn from the rental pool.

He’s also asking for compensation for the damage to his reputation, claiming the group has “badmouthed” him to council.

REM attempted to contact the minority owners, most of who live outside B.C., but the request for an interview was not answered.

However, their website sets out their grievances, stating that the municipality has evoked the covenant and should have the remedy to address their concerns.

In its news release, the group says, “That investor (Scholz) seized control of the front desk and cut off revenue to the other owners. The owners contend that according to B.C. law, a majority owner cannot act in ways that are BARBARA BELL-OLSEN

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significantly unfair to others.

Owners had earlier sought the assistance of the B.C. courts. But even the B.C. courts cannot help Whistler Phase II investors unless Whistler itself first opines on and enforces its own rules. The owners have asked the mayor and city councillors repeatedly to take action to protect the integrity of investing in Whistler.”

Scholz says the whole situation has become “like divorce” with both sides entrenched in positions; unless the minority owners capitulate as their costs rise, he can’ see a resolution outside of a court settlement.

But the situation and the website haven’t deterred Phase II buyers. Warner says that from January to June, 35 Phase II units have sold and currently there are another 46 listed on the market, with 12 priced under $100,000. “I don’t think it is a bad product, but it has to be the right product for the person buying,” she says, adding that it best suits a buyer who is only able to use the unit 56 days out of the year and who wants some revenue to help defray the cost of the unit. In terms of an investment, it is not a moneymaker. “The best-case scenario is a three-per-cent return on your money per annum,” she says.

She says real estate agents can educate a buyer to the realities of their investment by providing a revenue statement, provided by the seller, of a specific building to provide some insight into the anticipated return. Under strata laws now in effect, information on how the building has been maintained can also be provided.

“There are probably better investments,” says Warner, adding that Phase II units are good for an individual or family that only wants to visit Whistler a few times a year.

Wilhelm-Morden says the municipal covenant does not restrict the number of units any one owner or company can control.

“Phase II units are really a business operation and a relationship between the management company and the owners,” says Kelly. Most relationships run smoothly, he adds.

“Is this situation typical of Whistler real estate? Absolutely REM not.”

REM SEPTEMBER 2014 41

Tax tips for real estate sales reps

By Lior Zehtser

I

f you think you’re paying too much tax, here are some ideas that may help. Get started on these ideas now and you may be able to save some money at tax time.

If you are just getting started, meet with an accounting professional right before you start your real estate career so that you know what to look out for. Should you keep receipts? For how long? Most of your questions can be answered in a one-hour consultation.

Stay organized and create a system – whether it’s a monthly/quarterly exercise to separate your various expenses into different categories (envelopes, folders) or inputting the data into a spreadsheet or an online tool (Wave Accounting, Freshbooks, Xero – ask me how!). The more you do upfront, the easier it will be at year-

AS I SEE IT FROM MY DESK

By Stan Albert

I

started to think about this issue some time back when I was given a book by Daniel James Brown, The Boys in the Boat.

It’s the wonderful story of nine Americans and their quest for gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics.

The book captures the trials and tribulations of the freshman and sophomores from Washington State University during their quest. Many of the students were from humble beginnings and being chosen for the chance to compete in the Olympics was a once in a

end and the CRA agent may be impressed with how quickly you were able to supply the requested documents, which may play into your favour.

Don’t forget about the GST/HST you collected – this doesn’t belong to you! It would be prudent to tuck away all of the GST/HST you collect on each commission cheque to ensure you have enough funds to remit to the CRA at tax time.

Set up a separate business bank account that acts as the main account for your commission income and expenses. This helps to differentiate between business and personal expenses, but more importantly, it does not open the door for the CRA to review all of your personal activities if you are chosen for an audit.

Tax deductions and write-offs: In addition to all of the standard expenses (advertising and promotions, meals, monthly brokerage fees, board/association dues), here are some deductions that I get questioned about the most: Commission rebates – If you give a client a commission rebate,

it’s 100-per-cent deductible. Real estate agents must remember to keep the GST/HST they collected on the full commission and only provide the rebate, net of GST/HST. If the property purchased/sold is a principal residence, the benefactor has nothing to worry about.

If the property purchased/sold is an investment property, this rebate has tax implications and is beyond the scope of this article – but to make a long story short, it will increase the capital gain (if any) on the property.

Tuition courses: Our firm takes the position that expenses incurred on courses taken to obtain your real estate license and earn commission income should be fully deductible on your Statement of Business Activities. We have seen some accountants in the past include tuition expenses as a tuition credit on a separate schedule, thereby reducing the deductions that an agent can claim.

Although a case can possibly be made both ways, because an expense is incurred to earn income in this situation, the deduction

should stand as an expense.

GST/HST on vehicle purchase: Tracking the GST/HST you incur on your real estate activities and expenses can add up to significant tax savings and the rules are somewhat black and white. Unfortunately, the GST/ HST rules aren’t as straightforward when the purchase in question relates to an item that isn’t wholly used for business. And since the GST/HST you spend on vehicle purchases is usually significant, it is important that you get it right.

The CRA will allow you to include all of the GST/HST you incur on a vehicle purchase on your GST/HST filing if the vehicle is used 90 per cent or more for business. It will disallow any GST/HST on filing if the vehicle is used 10 per cent or less for business. If your usage is in between, there is a formula that must be used to arrive at the GST/HST amount you are allowed to claim.

More things to consider: • If in any year you owed

$3,000 or more in GST/HST, you are required to pay quarterly GST/HST instalments in the subsequent year (equivalent to your GST/HST payable amount in the prior year divided by four). • You can stop calculating GST/HST incurred on expenses by opting to remit GST/HST using the Quick Method. All that is required of you is to calculate the GST/HST you owe by using a simple formula provided by the CRA. Lior Zehtser is a chartered accountant and partner of ConnectCPA, Chartered Accountants (www.ConnectCPA.ca). His diverse experience in taxation, accounting and real estate comes from working in both public practice and industry. Lior held the position of financial controller at a North American real estate investment company, was a senior associate at PricewaterhouseCoopers and holds a real estate license with the Toronto Real Estate Board. Email Lior@ConnectCPA.ca. REM

Teamwork in real estate lifetime opportunity.

Notwithstanding the times and the state of world affairs, their chances of winning were improbable. Top teams from Australia and Germany were slated to compete.

One of the great boat builders of his time, George Yeoman Pockock, wrote many articles on the sport of rowing. He said, “Good thoughts have much to do with good rowing; it isn’t enough for the muscles of the crew to work in unison, their hearts and minds must also be as one.�

The message of this well-written book is to pass on that teamwork, training and persistence have a lot to do with how we, as real estate professionals, perform.

A vast percentage of us work for brokerages that have a commonality: they achieve success by building a cohesive team.

Many of us who offer up these anecdotal stores are criticized by readers who say that comparisons to teamwork are nonsense, because they did well enough on their own.

I agree, some sales reps are truly unique and have a God-given talent to outperform the average agent in our business.

But during the four decades of training agents in many aspects of our trade, I found only a few really catch on to the teamwork aspect.

Is it because they cannot see the value and the benefit of aligning themselves with the theme and the idealism that the broker invests his time and money in? It’s bewildering to me.

When I read the chapters in this book, it became apparent that those who want to win “the gold� will stand and be accountable.

Continued on page 42

Nous recrutons!

We’re seeking a new team member to manage REMenligne.com, our online exclusive, French language counterpart.

responsible for overseeing all French language operations;

! "#$%

& '

( heino@remonline.com

42 REM SEPTEMBER 2014

THE PUBLISHER’S PAGE

By Heino Molls

W

hen you read a newspaper you can go from page to page, section to section, front to back and back to front. You can put the paper down for a while and come back to it at the same page or start all over again. You are far more likely to read a complete story in the newspaper than when you go online.

When you’re on the Internet, different articles pop up, sometimes with a sea of other story referrals and references that tempt you to constantly hop over to something else.

A newspaper carries current events or in some cases, news about an industry, like REM does with the real estate industry. It’s all in the pages right in front of you. All the news is covered as indepth as possible, columns of opinion are presented and smaller but honest and useful information bits are available throughout the paper. It’s all here and it’s all complete. There is proper grammar and rarely do you read profanity.

Where to read all about it When you read a newspaper, you can have coffee without the worry of spilling it on a keyboard.

You can leave it and come back anytime and continue with the same piece without trying to remember what site you were on, what password or what portal you have to enter in the first place.

You can carry it into a coffee shop for breakfast, instead of carrying a laptop around in one of those “man bags” while looking for a restaurant that has Wi-Fi and a wall plug for your computer.

I fear that news and stories on line are generally lifeless. The nuances of a story that are important to the spirit and even the point of the story itself are left out or just plain lost. Just like the facts. I fear that less and less people today know what is really going on in the world and in their neighbourhoods because they are not factually informed online.

We live with change. I am not suggesting that Internet technology is not useful because it can be.

If you follow baseball you can look up the score of the baseball game last night. If you follow properties for sale currently by Realtors you can do so efficiently online at Realtor.ca. For now.

However, if you want to do some reading on the game of baseball, about the history and the

Teamwork Continued from page 41

In the real estate business, there is no silver or bronze at the end of the day. Competing for the gold takes drive, stamina and commitment to overcome negativity and less-than-courteous clients.

If you as an agent, whether new or seasoned, read this piece and you believe you are in a rut, read a book like this one and see how it compares to your business life.

Decide who you want to be.

Determine who you want to work with, develop your own new way of working and look to your broker as a team leader. His mentor-

ing will be just as good as some of the coaches you are paying huge sums of money to monthly.

Become a gold medal winner.

For those who don’t have the time to research or read this book, the Americans won by a second over the Aussies and the Germans.

Luck? Or hard work? Or both?

Stan Albert, broker/manager, ABR, ASA at Re/Max Crossroads’ iRealty office in Toronto can be reached for consultation at stanalb@rogers.com. Stan is now celebrating his 44th year as an active real estate professional. REM

romance of the game, you can only get that from a wellresearched newspaper series. If you want to know the aspects of owning real estate, selling or buying a home and working with a Realtor, you need to read some good newspaper or magazine articles on the subject.

Newspaper articles have better information than Internet stories and they have far greater integrity than pop-up pieces on the computer. I am at the point now that I am suspicious of just about everything I see online. There is simply no way to check the honesty and integrity of Internet news. Who are the authors? Where did their facts come from? How accurate are the claims they make? It strikes me that even the grocery store tabloids, who admit to sensationalist journalism, seem to have more accuracy in their stories than anything that is on the Internet.

I’ll give you an example.

Check the Internet for stories about politicians and celebrities and you will find lots of gossip.

You will see the many salacious stories about them without facts checked, no credible sources or collaborated evidence. But you won’t see them in print. That’s because newspapers and magazines operate under laws of libel.

Internet stories, not so much.

Even CREA has a battle on its hands to keep Realtor.ca a source of information that is honest and accurate. So far they are winning but they are fighting powerful organizations like the Competition Bureau who want to cram the system with so many different sources that they threaten the integrity of the information.

If you want real facts from the Internet, I suggest you check the score of the ball game because that’s about the only thing left on line today with any accuracy. If you can find it, that is.

Do you want to know what’s really going on these days? Get off the Internet and pick up a newspaper.

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

REM

Trade Shows and Conferences For complete listings, visit www.remonline.com To add a listing to this calendar, email jim@remonline.com International Council of Shopping Centers Catering to Canada event Tuesday, Sept. 2 Sheraton Centre, Toronto or watch online www.icsc.org Century 21 Canadian Conference, Supplier Expo Sept. 10 - 12 Sheraton On The Falls Niagara Falls, Ont. Carla Ty – supplier.expo@century21.ca Oakville, Milton and District Real Estate Board SYNCposium Technology Tradeshow Thursday, Sept. 18 Oakville Conference Centre Oakville www.omdreb.on.ca Royal LePage National Sales Conference, Trade Expo Sept. 30 to Oct. 2 Sheraton Centre Toronto www.royallepageevents.ca Sharon Promm – sharonpromm@royallepage.ca Brampton Real Estate Board Expo 2014 Thursday, Oct. 9 Embassy Grand Convention Centre Brampton, On membership@breb.org WinnipegRealtors Technology Conference and Trade Show Thursday, Oct. 16 Victoria Inn, Winnipeg Lucy Hajkowski – lhajkowski@winnipegrealtors.ca

Realtors Association of Edmonton Conference and Tradeshow Wednesday, Oct. 22 Ramada Edmonton at Kingsway Lixmila Serrano specialevents@ereb.com Text: 780-868-4978 Barrie & District Association of Realtors 2nd Annual Education Day and Trade Show Thursday, Oct. 30 Holiday Inn, Barrie, Ont. Bonnie Hunter – bonnie@barrie.realtors.ca Ottawa Real Estate Board Trade Show Thursday, Oct. 30 Ottawa OREB.Admin@oreb.ca National Association of Realtors Realtors Conference & Expo Nov. 7 – 10 New Orleans www.realtor.org/convention.nsf/ Realtors Association of Grey Bruce Owen Sound Trade Show Tuesday, Nov. 18 Harry Lumley Bayshore Community Centre Owen Sound.

Marilyn Newbigging Marilynn@ragbos.com International Council of Shopping Centers NOI+ Asset Management Conference Nov. 20-21, Chicago RetailGreen Conference Dec. 2-3, Phoenix www.icsc.org

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

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