Thursday, July 7, 2016

Maria Mak - Burnaby Realtor - Is there a typical home buyer in Metro Vancouver? | Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver

Is there a typical home buyer in Metro Vancouver? | Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver

Home buyer competition is intense in today’s housing market and multiple offer situations have become commonplace.

These trends have residents wondering, who is buying homes in Metro Vancouver¹ today? Are millennials being priced out? Are retirees downsizing? Are investors driving the market?

To shed some light on these questions, the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV) sends Realtors who represented a buyer in a sale over the previous 30-day period²a home buyer demographic survey each month. Between 150 and 200 Realtors regularly complete the survey.

“This feedback, while not scientific, gives us a deeper understanding of the trends in the marketplace,” said Darcy McLeod, REBGV president. “We’ve conducted this poll over several years and some consistent themes have emerged.”

Home buyer description

Since 2015, first time home buyers account for 32 per cent of Metro Vancouver home sales, according to the survey, and 21 per cent of home buyers are people moving from one property to another similar property in the region.

Speculation of real estate investor activity is much-discussed in social and traditional media today. REBGV’s survey finds that nearly one in five homes sold to real estate investors last year with domestic investors (15 per cent) making up the largest portion of these purchases. Foreign investors make up less than five per cent of all property sales in the region.

Home buyer demographic

Young families with children are active in today’s market. This group accounts for 34 per cent of all activity and young couples with no children make up 18.5 per cent of all activity.

Retirees (eight per cent) and empty nesters (seven per cent) both represent less than ten per cent of Metro Vancouver home sales according to last month’s survey.

Home buyer residency

The clear majority of buyers, around 82 per cent, are already living in Metro Vancouver when they make their purchase. The next largest group of buyers migrate from other areas in BC and Canada. Roughly eight per cent of home buyers come from outside Canada.

Financing trends

Just over 60 per cent of buyers pay for their homes using traditional mortgages with at least a 25 per cent down payment. Cash purchases and high ratio mortgages make up for the remaining 40 per cent in nearly equal proportions.

“While the volume of home sales has increased in recent months, the characteristics of people buying in our market remains relatively constant according to this monthly research,” McLeod said.

¹Areas covered by Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver include: Whistler, Sunshine Coast, Squamish, West Vancouver, North Vancouver, Vancouver, Burnaby, New Westminster, Richmond, Port Moody, Port Coquitlam, Coquitlam, Pitt Meadows, Maple Ridge, and South Delta.

²Data collected from REBGV Market Survey, March 2015-February 2016

Wednesday, June 29, 2016

Maria Mak - Burnaby Realtor - Provincial government withdraws self-regulation in real estate

June 29, 2016

Provincial government withdraws self-regulation in real estate

Premier Christy Clark announced today that her government will establish a dedicated superintendent of real estate who’ll take over the Real Estate Council of BC’s regulation and rule-making authority. Clark says that this marks the end of self-regulation in the real estate industry.

We’re reaching out to our contacts at the Council and in government to better understand the implications of this change.

The province also announced plans to:

• Reconstitute the Real Estate Council with a majority of public-interest, non-industry members.

• Implement the penalties recommended by the IAG, as well as increase fines for unlicensed activity and other offences.

• Allow for commissions from licensees engaging in misconduct to be taken back to the council.

• Make managing brokers responsible for ensuring the owner of the brokerage don’t engage in the business of the brokerage if the owner is not a licensee.

• No longer permit licensees to offer dual agency representation.

Here’s the government’s announcement: https://news.gov.bc.ca/releases/2016PREM0074-001180

We’ll provide more information on this development as we learn more.

Tuesday, June 28, 2016

Maria Mak - Burnaby Realtor - Council’s Independent Advisory Group announces 28 recommendations

Council’s Independent Advisory Group announces 28 recommendations

The Real Estate Council of BC’s Independent Advisory Group (IAG) released its final report today outlining 28 recommendations to enhance consumer protection in the real estate profession.

The recommendations cover several areas within the profession, including dual agency, multiple offers, maximum penalties, entrance requirements, and more. Click here to read the full report.

“We welcome the Independent Advisory Group’s final report and we support its recommendations,” Dan Morrison, REBGV president said. “We look forward to working with the Real Estate Council of BC to help implement the recommended changes.”

We released this statement to our media contacts and on social media earlier today. Please share this statement on your social media channels and with your clients.

The IAG was created on February 22 to examine current regulations and make recommendations to protect the public interest. Here are the IAG’s 28 recommendations:

Transparency and Ethics

1. The Real Estate Council create a comprehensive Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct and require licensees to affirm, in writing, their compliance with the Code as part of regular relicensing requirements.

2. The Real Estate Council amend its Rules to no longer permit licensees engaged in trading services to offer dual agency.

3. The Real Estate Council require licensees to fully disclose and explain their financial and non-financial incentive structures, prior to and on entering into a client relationship.

4. The Real Estate Council require licensees to provide information to consumers which clearly explains the duties owed to consumers by licensees, and how consumers can protect their own interests, before, during, and after they enter a relationship with a licensee.

5. The Real Estate Council focus more attention on the forms and contracts used by licensees, to ensure they reflect an appropriate emphasis on consumer protection and the public interest.

6. Government implement the changes it made to contracts used by licensees, requiring seller consent to contract assignments by the buyer, to all forms of contract for trades in real estate whether or not the contracts are prepared by licensees.

7. The Real Estate Council require all licensee disclosures of interests in trade be reviewed and approved by a licensee’s managing broker and subsequently filed at regular intervals with the Real Estate Council.

8. The Real Estate Council amend its Rules to prohibit a licensee from acquiring a direct or indirect interest in their own listing.

9. The Real Estate Council require that all offers received by a seller’s agent in relation to a trade in real estate, be promptly filed with that agent’s managing broker and be retained at the brokerage for review by the Real Estate Council on demand.

Compliance and Consequences

10. The Real Estate Council apply more stringent suitability assessment criteria to prospective licensees.

11. The Real Estate Council impose an explicit duty on managing brokers to report licensee misconduct to the Council, and explicit duty on licensees to report misconduct to their managing broker, when that misconduct places the public at risk.

12. The Real Estate Council implement confidential reporting channels (for example, reporting hotlines or whistle-blower programs) for industry and the public, to facilitate reporting of licensee misconduct.

13. The Real Estate Council use existing regulatory powers to encourage licensee compliance with all rules that govern their conduct, including those of other legal and regulatory regimes.

14. The Real Estate Council increase its proactive detection and deterrence efforts for licensees who engage in, aid, or abet aggressive marketing and sales practices that target vulnerable members of the public.

15. The Real Estate Council increase the focus on licensee conduct examinations in its brokerage auditing program.

16. Government increase maximum disciplinary penalties available to the Real Estate Council to $250,000 for individual licensee misconduct and $500,000 for brokerage misconduct, and increase administrative penalties to a maximum of $50,000.

17. Government amend the Act to enable the Real Estate Council to disgorge the proceeds of misconduct from licensees and brokerages.

18. The Real Estate Council improve the transparency of its complaints and disciplinary process, and the resulting outcomes.

Governance and Structure

19. Government amend the Act to require that 50% of Council members be non-industry members.

20. Government amend the Act to make the regulation of both licensed and unlicensed real estate services the responsibility of a single regulator, the Real Estate Council.

21. Government increase the Superintendent of Real Estate’s oversight of the Real Estate Council including periodic independent assessments of Council’s performance against its mandate.

22. The Real Estate Council strengthen the requirements for managing brokers to have active and direct oversight over licensees.

23. Government implement a “fit and proper” standard for brokerage ownership.

24. The Real Estate Council require record keeping and reporting that would assist it to identify industry practices that may be placing consumers at risk.

Licensee and Public Education

25. The Real Estate Council undertake a comprehensive review of licensing education and testing requirements to raise entry standards.

26. The Real Estate Council implement mandatory continuing education with content and testing that reinforces a licensee’s ethical obligations, conduct requirements, and duties to consumers.

27. The Real Estate Council make its complaints process more publicly accessible and easier to navigate.

28. The Real Estate Council significantly increase and improve its public education and awareness efforts.

We’ll have more coverage and analysis on these recommendations in the weeks to come.

Monday, June 27, 2016

Maria Mak - Burnaby Realtor - Understanding the new assignment regulations

The provincial government announced new rules regulating contract assignments, effective May 16, 2016.
Real estate contracts are now required to include two terms: one that requires the seller's consent to assign the contract, and one that requires that any profit from an assignment goes to the original seller. Clients can instruct REALTORS® to omit or change these clauses.
The buyer's Realtor is also required to inform the seller if one, or both, of these clauses are removed from their offer. The seller's Realtor must also disclose if the proposed contract is assignable or not - including any conditions that would be applicable to the assignment.
Be aware, if you're a seller and a buyer requests you waive the assignment clause, they may be looking to re-sell your property before the contract completes. If you have questions, talk to your Realtor or legal advisor before you sign anything.

To protect yourself as a buyer in an assignment deal, make sure that:

you work with a REALTOR®. Your REALTOR® will help protect your interests and bring knowledge of the provincial legislation that governs real estate transactions.

the original Contract of Purchase and Sale has the mandated assignment clause requiring the seller's approval before it can be assigned;

the original seller is aware of, and approves of, the assignment;

if there is profit from the assignment, the profit reverts back to the seller unless otherwise specified in the original Contract of Purchase and Sale;

the property is or was listed for sale;

the identity of every individual involved in the transaction has been verified;

all money already paid and owed is accounted for and dealt with in the assignment contract;

you understand the additional risk associated with paying the assignment fee before the original contract is finalized; and

you consult an accountant to understand the tax implications.

Maria Mak Burnaby Real Estate Consultant