REALTOR Learning Paths

V O l u m E 3 5, n u m B E r 3 a u g u s T 2 0 1 2 REALTOR Learning Paths Have you noticed changes in provincial REALTOR education? One of the many exciting new innovations of the 3-Year Plan for REALTORS, is the notion of a recommended learning path structure for professional development. From its development in 2006, the Association s Professional Development Program (PDP) was designed to provide REALTORS with meaningful education that would protect both their clients and themselves and would promote REALTOR professionalism across the province. To meet the evolving needs of the real estate profession, BCREA has expanded the learning opportunities for BC REALTORS as part of the 3-Year Plan. The Association is working to support provincial education through improved continuity between course offerings to better foster accessibility of information and improve the applicability of competency based learning to daily practice. To help guide these professional learning opportunities, BCREA created recommended, designation-neutral learning paths for both residential and commercial practices. These learning paths are designed to cater to three rankings within the real estate profession: Emerging Professionals: new licensees who require basic knowledge to kick off their first few years in trading services. Career Builders: established REALTORS looking to broaden their knowledge within other areas of specialization. seasoned Professionals: senior level (or experienced) REALTORS requiring updated information, training and opportunities to share knowledge and experience through mentorship. All learning paths will have a mandatory course component, currently Legal Update. Webinars and panel discussions will also be included to provide timely education on special topics of relevance to all BC real estate professionals, such as the recent introduction of designated agency across the province. Additionally, learning paths could include other recommended learning opportunities such as sponsored education events, which would adhere to robust criteria. In addition to the mandatory course, recommended learning opportunities for emerging professionals will help develop their trading services in their first few years as licensees. These will include transactions in strata, product knowledge and business intelligence for the new REALTOR. For career builders, recommended learning path courses will focus on specializations in the areas of client care and professional conduct, a more elaborate demonstration of product knowledge, contracts and presentation of offers which will include the completion process and digital risks and opportunities. BCREA will also create recommended courses around the primary competencies of agency, disclosure, and standard forms and contracts. As for seasoned professionals, the recommended learning paths will focus on webinars and panel discussions on special topics such as leadership, updated information on primary competencies, and on client action research. Client action research will provide the opportunity for experienced REALTORS to interact within their own communities by conducting research and sharing statistics on real estate indicators. Education opportunities for these recommended learning paths will be offered by a variety of course providers and will adhere to specific and measurable standards. BCREA looks forward to showcasing these updates to the Professional Development Program in the coming years to cater to the learning needs of BC REALTORS. BCREA welcomes your feedback on provincial REALTOR education! If you have thoughts about education for BC REALTORS, please share them by contacting the Association s education team at education@bcrea.bc.ca. I N S I D E President s Report Pg 2 Working Together Real Estate Sector Pg 3 LiveSmart BC: Energy Savings for Homeowners Practical Points Pg 3 WorkSafeBC: Requirements for REALTORS Economics Pg 4 What is Seasonal Adjustment? Practical Points Pg 5 New Condo and Townhouse Maintenance Videos Real Estate Sector Pg 6 Gathering New Ideas and Valuable Feedback

President s Report Working Together It s hard to believe that by the time you read this, the summer will almost be over. There have been many developments happening over the past few months, but a major one was the introduction of designated agency in the province on June 1. This collaborative project has brought together BCREA, our member boards and the Real Estate Council of British Columbia to create a seamless transition to the new agency model. Together with financial support from The Real Estate Foundation of British Columbia, this project has been a testament to the power of working together. Brian Taylor from Bull Housser has also been an amazing resource, conducting more than 80 workshops for REALTORS and managing brokers in every board area in the province. Almost 8,600 licensees participated in the workshops, including over 1,100 via webinars that BCREA offered. A survey will be going out to REALTORS this fall, so please provide your feedback on how we could improve this type of offering in the future. If you find yourself with remaining questions about designated agency, please visit the BCREA website (http://web.bcrea.bc.ca/da) which has a comprehensive FAQ, revised forms for reference and background information on agency. There are also short video clips of Brian Taylor explaining agency concepts and providing insight into how the decision to move to designated agency was reached. The website will remain live for the next year to give all licensees ample opportunity to inform themselves. The relevant standard forms have been updated on WEBForms to reflect designated agency, including a revised version of the Working With A REALTOR brochure. The brochure is an essential part of any conversation that a REALTOR has with his or her client. It outlines the various agency models that exist, the responsibilities that REALTORS and buyers/sellers have to each other and how a client s personal information is used. The newly re-designed brochure has been streamlined into two pages and the language has been simplified to make it easier for REALTORS to explain and their clients to understand. The designated agency project has been very successful thanks to the hard work of the many individuals involved. In fact, the project will be presented as a best practice to the Association of Real Estate License Law Officials later this year. On behalf of BCREA, I would like to offer a heartfelt thanks to everyone who made this project a success. Jim McCaughan President President Jim McCaughan Board of Directors 2012-2013 Core Ideology Officers Regional Directors Core Purpose Ensuring the continued value of REALTORS in BC. Core Values Member board vitality REALTOR success REALTOR professionalism Quality of Life - Ensuring economic vitality - Providing housing opportunities - Preserving the environment - Protecting property owners - Building better communities Public trust President Jim McCaughan 604.855.0800 jamesmccaughan@ hotmail.com Past President Rick Valouche 604.629.6100 rick@valouche.com Vice President Jennifer Lynch 250.247.2088 jennifer@ discovergabriola.com Chief Executive Officer Robert Laing 604.742.2787 rlaing@bcrea.bc.ca Region I Claudia Holland 250.992.7202 claudia@claudiaholland.com Region II Dick Pemberton 250.374.3331 rpemberton@kadrea.com James Palanio 250.492.2266 jamespalanio@shaw.ca Region III Barbara Gallie 250.478.6530 bgallie@shaw.ca Jim Stewart 250.758.7653 jstewart@coastrealty.com Region IV Jake Moldowan 604.271.7288 jake@jakem.ca K. Scott Russell 604.273.3155 russell@direct.ca Rosario Setticasi 604.986.9321 rsetticasi@gmail.com Region V Kelvin Neufeld 604.590.2444 neufkel@telus.net Paul Penner 604.859.2341 paul@paulpenner.com T h e B u l l e t i n a u g u s t 2 0 1 2

Real Estate Sector LiveSmart BC: Benefits for Homeowners Looking for valuable information for new homeowners on how they can save money on upgrading their home s energy efficiency and receive thousands back in rebates? They ll thank you later. Until March 31, 2013, LiveSmart BC incentives will offer over $7000 in rebates for households. The program, provided by BC Hydro, FortisBC and the Province of BC, helps homeowners reap the benefits of rebate savings now and reduce energy use in the future. There are three easy steps to participate in the program and save: 1. Choose a service organization to conduct the pre-retrofit home energy assessment. 2. Make the energy efficiency improvements to the home. 3. Complete a follow-up (post-retrofit) energy assessment with a Certified Energy Advisor by March 31, 2013. There is no extra work for the homeowners as the paperwork and rebate applications are even handled by the advisor. Customers will save $150 on the initial energy assessment which typically costs $350. The provincial program includes incentives for 54 different upgrades, such as up to: $1,500 for exterior wall insulation $1,500 to install heat pumps $1,200 for basement insulation $750 to install attic insulation $70 per window, door and skylight replacement For more information about LiveSmart BC rebates, visit www.powersmart.ca/livesmartbc. Practical Points WorkSafeBC: Requirements for REALTORS Are you registered with WorkSafeBC? If you needed to make a claim for compensation for a work-related injury, would you meet WorkSafeBC s requirements? BCREA would like to remind REALTORS that they must meet certain criteria to be eligible to make claims. WorkSafeBC s Practice Directive for REALTORS states that in order for a licensee to be considered as an independent operator, and therefore entitled to register with the agency and make a claim, the following criteria must be met: The REALTOR must pay a fixed amount of not less than $100 per month to the agency for administrative and operating costs regardless of whether any sales are made or commissions are earned. The REALTOR must be responsible for his or her own expenses (e.g., personal promotion, advertising, or travel and vehicle expenses). The REALTOR must be entitled to the full amount of the gross commissions earned. For more information about WorkSafeBC and making a claim, visit www.worksafebc.com.

Economics What is Seasonal Adjustment? By Brendon Ogmundson, BCREA Economist BC Multiple Listing Service (MLS ) home sales fell 27 per cent in December!... BC home sales rose 49 per cent in March! Both of these statements are true, but are they meaningful? Not really. The type of variation we see in some monthly data is produced by a normal and predictable seasonal pattern. Which is why whenever the media reports economic statistics such as how many jobs were created or houses sold each month, it is very likely that the statistics they are reporting have been seasonally adjusted. But what exactly does that mean? Before we get into how and why seasonal adjustment is done, it will be useful to define a few terms: Time series: a time series is a set of data points of some economic (or other) variable observed through time. For example MLS home sales from January 1980 to December 2011. seasonality: a time series displays seasonality if there is, within the calendar year, repetitive and predictable movement around an economic variable s trend. Trend: the trend is the long-term movement in a time series after other components, such as cyclical fluctuations, have been accounted for. Cycle: the cycle component of a time series is the fluctuation around the long-term trend that occurs at a period of longer than one year. irregular: a time series may also have what is called an irregular component consisting of whatever variation remains once trend, cycle and seasonality have been accounted for. It can be the result of one-time events like extreme weather conditions or other unpredictable events. Many economic data are influenced by recurring seasonal factors. Whether from weather, holidays or other recurring calendar events, these seasonal factors often obscure the underlying movement of an economic variable and make data analysis more challenging. Consider the increase in retail sales during the Christmas shopping season or home sales in the spring and summer months when the sun is shining and flowers are blooming. If one were to look at the raw data for these series, you would observe spikes in the level of the data that could mask a meaningful underlying trend. The challenge for economists and other users of data is to isolate movements in a time series that are due solely to seasonality and not to other important economic factors that might be impacting trends in the data. To accomplish this, various statistical methods have been developed to decompose a time series into its trend, cycle, irregular and seasonal components. The time series decomposition of MLS home sales is shown in the accompanying graph. Most of the monthly fluctuation in sales are due to the long-term trend and mediumterm cyclical economic factors. However, there is a pronounced seasonal factor as well. Once the seasonal factor has been removed, it is much easier to see smaller movement in the underlying data that were previously masked by seasonal fluctuations. As we have seen, seasonal adjustment is an invaluable tool for data analysis that Time Series Decomposition of MLS Home Sales Unadjusted Data Trend Component Cycle Component Seasonal Component Irregular Component Seasonally Adjusted Data BCREA Economist Brendon Ogmundson can significantly enhance understanding and communication of the month to month changes in the housing market. The Bulletin is published quarterly by the British Columbia Real Estate Association. Real estate boards, real estate associations and REALTORS may reprint this content, provided that credit is given to BCREA by including the following statement: Copyright British Columbia Real Estate Association. Reprinted with permission. BCREA makes no guarantees as to the accuracy or completeness of this information. Send questions and comments about The Bulletin to: Editor: Damian Stathonikos Assistant: Lindsay Cook 1420-701 Georgia Street West PO Box 10123, Pacific Centre Vancouver, BC V7Y 1C6 Phone: 604.683.7702 Fax: 604.683.8601 Email: bcrea@bcrea.bc.ca www.bcrea.bc.ca Printed on recycled paper. ISSN: 1705-3307

Practical Points New Condo and Townhouse Maintenance Videos Article provided by the Homeowner Protection Office Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, Polygon Homes and building envelope consulting firms, the bulletins are available in the Reports & Publications section at www.hpo.bc.ca. The downloadable PDF bulletins delve deeper into their topics with additional information and advice such as practical guidelines for hiring professional contractors. In addition to the three topics covered in the videos, the other bulletins address: A new video series of interest to REALTORS and their condo or townhouse clients is now available from the BC government s Homeowner Protection Office (HPO). Focusing on the maintenance of multiunit buildings, the video series stems from the free Maintenance Matters bulletins produced by the HPO, a branch of BC Housing. The bulletins provide practical information on maintaining the building envelope of multi-unit residential buildings including townhouses, and low and highrise buildings. The short, informative videos explain why regular maintenance needs to be performed and also provide tips and checklists useful information for all condo and townhouse clients, but particularly those buying into a multi-unit building for the first time. They can be found at www.hpo.bc.ca (What s New) and BC Housing s YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/user/bchousing1. The videos will help inform clients about the types of exterior maintenance required for their buildings, and why it s important to invest in these tasks through their strata fees. They explain how, in addition to enhancing property values and curb appeal, regular maintenance can save them money because it prevents costly problems and emergency repairs. Additionally, the videos show clients how failure to perform regular maintenance, or improperly performed maintenance, can compromise their building s home warranty insurance. Warranty providers may deny coverage in cases of neglect and improper maintenance, particularly if the first homeowner received a maintenance manual from the builder or warranty providers and did not perform the recommended maintenance. The Maintenance Matters video series covers the following topics: at-grade and Below-grade assemblies typically used for car and bicycle parking and storage. Exposed Wood structures such as wood walkways and decks. Cladding materials used to cover the exterior of a building. In addition to the videos, REALTORS may also steer multi-unit clients to the HPO s complete Maintenance Matters bulletin series. Produced in collaboration with the #7: Building Envelope maintenance and renewals Planning function of the building envelope, impact of maintenance. #6: Decks and Balconies steps to take for proper inspection, maintenance and long-term performance. #5: sealants sealant types and maintenance requirements. #4: residential Windows and Exterior Doors inspection and maintenance to ensure long-term performance. #3: avoiding Condensation Problems why condensation forms, why it is a concern, prevention and addressing problems. #2: maintaining your roof roof types, maintenance requirements and common issues. #1: Paints, stains and Coatings types of paints, stains and coatings, application and maintenance. Free online subscription to hpo publications To be notified by email when a new Maintenance Matters bulletin is available, go to Email Subscriptions on the What s New page of the HPO website, www.hpo.bc.ca. BCREA would like to thank the Homeowner Protection Office for providing this article.

Real Estate Sector Gathering New Ideas and Valuable Feedback Throughout the past year, BCREA has been working to gather input on the role of the real estate profession and the Association s initiatives. By facilitating opportunities such as panel discussions and focus groups, BCREA hopes to bridge communication gaps to improve its services, collect valuable input and ideas, and expand its horizons. What realtors Want At BCREA s 2012 Leadership Conference in May, a REALTOR panel was facilitated as an important aspect of the event agenda. The panel highlighted a back and forth of questions and answers from three Vancouver Island area REALTORS and Education cpe Course Schedule Looking for upcoming continuing professional education (cpe) courses in your area? Visit BCREA s cpe course schedule, available from the Association s REALTOR Link homepage (www.realtorlink.ca). To register for courses, contact your local real estate board. For contact information, visit www.bcrea.bc.ca/about/member-boards. conference delegates on what REALTORS want from their real estate boards and provincial association. The session proved to be extremely valuable as an opportunity to receive direct feedback. When asked what the panel felt were the most important resources that their boards provided to their members, responses included the Multiple Listing Services (MLS ) System, professional development courses and statistical information and materials. In response to what boards could do better, the panel s answers mainly focussed on support for their business as real estate professionals such assistance in business planning, support in creating a structured mentorship program for new REALTORS, and facilitating member networking events. When asked how BCREA could improve its services, the panel suggested developing strategies for the longevity of the profession, more challenging course requirements and courses for REALTORS day-to-day business needs, as well as a provincial MLS System. BCREA would like to thank the REALTOR panel volunteers Trevor Hendriks, Saira Waters and Hadikin for sharing this valuable information. Consumer suggestions In February, BCREA worked with Weaver Marketing Research Ltd. to conduct seven focus groups throughout BC with members of the public who had bought and/or sold property within the last five years. While some respondents (especially first time buyers) said they d feel more comfortable with an experienced REALTOR, just as many said that as well as formal knowhow, it was personality, responsiveness, competence and drive that made a REALTOR effective or not, no matter how long they d been in the profession. There were no areas identified in the focus groups where new REALTORS consistently underperformed and many respondents reported not ruling out working with a new licensee. In fact, some said they appreciated their energy. Along with a thorough grasp of the legal and procedural aspects of a transaction, exceptional interpersonal skills were described as crucial, especially for new REALTORS and respondents in all groups spoke about the importance of finding a personality match with their REALTOR. Overall, the research showed that performance was not necessarily related to years of experience but rather to the personal connection that the REALTOR formed with their clients and their competence levels. When asked for suggestions to improve REALTOR training and/or the consumer experience, respondents offered many suggestions including to provide: mentoring, apprenticeship or a practicum portion of REALTOR training. consumer checklists about all parties roles and the transaction process. feedback forms for clients to evaluate their REALTORS. interpretations While much of this information was collected in an informal environment and was limited to a small number of individuals, feedback received by the Association is always valuable to start the ball rolling on new ideas and directions to better serve our members. BCREA looks forward to other potential opportunities to gather new ideas and feedback. Let us know what your thoughts are on these topics. Email us at bcrea@bcrea.bc.ca. We look forward to hearing from you!