May 5, 2020 | Matrix |
Recently, RAHB has received complaints surrounding the field “Possession”; specifically the pick “Flexible” is not being used as intended.
The field “Possession” has several picks to choose from as follows:
- Immediate
- Flexible
- 1-29 days
- 30-59 days
- 60-89 days
- 90+days
- Other
The word “Flexible” means to be ready and able to change to adapt to different circumstances, or able to be easily modified to respond to altered circumstances or conditions. If “Flexible” is chosen, be sure your Seller(s) are in fact “Flexible”, in that they can adapt to different possession scenarios; otherwise choose a more specific pick as listed above that will suit your Seller(s) scenario.
“Flexible” does not mean the following:
- “We are looking for 90-120 days”
- “For the right price, we may be able to be flexible”
- “It’s a split up, one party wants a long closing, the other party wants a short closing, so we chose Flexible”
If you have any questions or concerns, please contact the MLS Help Desk at 905.667.4650 or e-mail [email protected].
May 5, 2020 | Uncategorized |
Effective Wednesday June 17, the Realty Shoppe will now offer curbside pick-up two days a week! You can utilize the curbside pick-up on Tuesdays and Fridays.
Just a reminder that the Realty Shoppe will be modifying service delivery with curbside pick-up to serve our members better, and to adhere to the health and safety guidelines outlined by the province.
- Supply orders must be pre-ordered by e-mail at [email protected], or by phone at 905.529.5979.
- Orders must be pre-paid, and payment must be on your credit card or your RAHB account. Payment by debit and/or cash is not available at this time. We apologize for the inconvenience.
- A twice weekly pick-up of pre-ordered supply orders will be available each Tuesday and Friday, via curbside pick-up only, at the parking lot entry door for the RAHB offices. Entry into the RAHB building and in-person shopping is not be permitted at this time.
- Curb-side pick-up: A pre-determined pick-up time will be coordinated by Realty Shoppe staff with each member. Upon arrival, the member must wait in their vehicle within the RAHB parking lot, and Shoppe staff will bring the order out of the building and place it on a designated table in order to adhere to social distancing measures.
- No RAHB staff have been diagnosed with COVID-19, and RAHB staff working within the Realty Shoppe do not have COVID-19 symptoms.
Apr 29, 2020 | Uncategorized |
A reminder that dropping off door-to-door materials is considered a non-essential service during COVID-19 under section 19 of the essential list provided by the Government of Ontario. Please hold off from dropping any materials door-to-door until the essential list is changed.
List of essential services.
Apr 29, 2020 | New Members |
We extend a warm welcome to RAHB’s newest members who joined our association between April 1 – April 29, 2020!
Joseline Nicholas
Keller Williams Complete Realty
Faisal Hamadi
Sarah Lawson
Keller Williams Edge Realty
Fady Rassam
Homelife Professionals Realty Inc.
Hamid Amirrad
Right At Home Realty
Apr 28, 2020 | Uncategorized |
Recently, a RAHB member found their listing posted for rent without permission on an online classified website. Luckily, the member was contacted by a potential renter and confirmed that the posting was not real. Please remind your clients to be viligent when searching online websites and to refer back to REALTOR.ca for more information or to contact their REALTOR®.
If you see or are affected by a rental scam, Hamilton Police Services suggests reporting the ad to the website where the rental is posted, working with your financial institution if money has been sent, and reporting incidents to local police services. They also recommend reporting to the Canadian Anti Fraud Centre to report – please go to https://antifraudcentre-centreantifraude.ca/. Please note there are no telephone lines for the Canadian Anti Fraud Centre at this time.
Apr 23, 2020 | MLS®, Stats & Technology |
In an effort to continue to deliver quick and meaningful solutions to members, ShowingTime is rolling out new listing controls for virtual showings the evening of Monday, April 27.
ShowingTime’s latest release gives listing agents more control over how they prefer showings are conducted on their listings and the capability to easily communicate appointment information for each listing.
Listing agents can now configure their listings for 1) Virtual Appts Only 2) In-Person and Virtual Appts or 3) In-Person Appts Only. This setting can be configured per listing by choosing from a drop-down menu on each listing’s setup worksheet, or agents can choose a setting for all their listings in their user profile.
When Virtual Appts Only is selected, the access details for the home are intentionally hidden from the buyer’s agent. They remain in the account should you decide to switch the listing back to allow In-Person Appts, but are not visible for Virtual Appts Only since no one will be accessing the home.
Notes added by the listing agent are highlighted for easy visibility by the buyer’s agent and include information on how the virtual showing will happen. When using the ShowingTime app, agents can easily share these notes by tapping the newly added ‘share’ button and sending the information via text or email.
Apr 17, 2020 | Uncategorized |
On April 15, CREA released their national statistics and chose to focus on seasonally adjusted data, while highlighting individual markets across the country. For the release, please visit https://www.crea.ca/news/canadian-home-sales-and-listings-down-in-march/.
RAHB, as well as several other associations/boards across Canada, reported an increase in the number of sales month-over-month (actual) from February to March 2020; however, the seasonally adjusted numbers published by CREA show decreases. For example, RAHB reported a 10 per cent increase in the number of sales (actual) from February to March of this year, while CREA reported a decrease of 24.9 per cent in sales (seasonally adjusted) for the same time period.
The media published CREA’s release and data, but did not explain that the data was seasonally adjusted. For the CBC article, please visit https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/crea-march-real-estate-1.5532748.
We are working with CREA to correct any media that have not properly identified and explained seasonally adjusted data; however, this has caused confusion among REALTORS® across Canada, as well as in the eyes of the public.
RAHB has contacted CREA and asked that they:
- Emphasize that their data is seasonally adjusted.
- Include a clear definition of seasonally adjusted data.
- Provide a clear explanation of the difference between seasonally adjusted data provided by CREA and actual data provided by boards/associations.
- Focus on data at the national level, allowing boards and associations to publish regional data.
RAHB and other boards and associations use actual data in statistics releases, and refrain from focusing on seasonally adjusted data as it is quite complicated for the public to understand. CREA does provide a high-level explanation on their website – https://www.creacafe.ca/seasonally-adjusted-mysteries-revealed/.
Below are some points RAHB members can use to explain CREA’s seasonally adjusted data with clients:
- The majority of regional boards/associations – including RAHB – publish raw data within their monthly market statistics reports to show the actual activity that took place within any given month.
- CREA uses seasonally adjusted data to identify trends.
- Seasonal adjustment strips out normal seasonal fluctuations that otherwise affect data, and levels the playing field for each month.
- CREA states that using seasonally adjusted data makes every month 30 days with four weekends and no holidays.
- The effect of seasonal adjustment is that it reduces readings for months which normally get a seasonal lift, and boosts them for months which normally see a seasonal slump.
- Seasonally adjusted data is how governments, financial institutions and market analysts look at the figures.
- Seasonally adjusted statistics result from raw data being fed into a complicated computer model.
RAHB uses actual data because:
- Actual data is the raw data collected in any given time period.
- Raw data shows the confirmed/real activity that took place during any given time period.
- Actual (raw) data is generally easier to understand.
- Publishing actual (raw) data allows REALTORS® to analyze their specific section of the market.
If you have any questions, please contact [email protected].
Apr 14, 2020 | COVID19 |
On April 8, Minister Morneau further explained the eligibility criteria for the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS).
The Federal Government is responding to concerns of the business community by amending previously announced conditions about the proposed CEWS:
- To measure revenue, compare the revenue of March, April and May 2020 to that of the same month of 2019, or to an average of the revenue earned in January and February 2020.
- For March, the Federal Government proposes to make the CEWS more accessible by reducing the 30 per cent benchmark of revenue losses to 15 per cent. For April and May, a business will need to demonstrate a 30 per cent loss, once again. This is to recognize that many businesses did not begin to be affected by COVID-19 until partway through March.
- In recognition that the time between when revenue is earned and when it is paid could vary between sectors, employers are now allowed to measures revenues either based on accrual accounting (as they are earned) or cash accounting (as they are received).
Additionally, the Federal Government is proposing that employers who are eligible for the CEWS be entitled to receive a 100 per cent refund for certain employer-paid contributions to EI and the Canada Pension Plan.
To learn more about the The Canada Emergency Response Benefit and the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy, please click here.
To read about the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (April 3), please click here.
Apr 7, 2020 | Matrix, MLS®, Stats & Technology |
Users may advertise virtual live stream open house through Matrix and REALTOR.ca.
To advertise a virtual live stream open house, please follow the instructions below:
- Login to Matrix
- Click the blue “Input” tab
- Under “Quick Modify”, select the listing
- Click “Open Houses”
- Enter the “Start Date”
- Enter the “Start Time” and the “End Time”
- The open house “Type” automatically will default to “Virtual”
- Under “Virtual Open House URL” enter or paste your live stream open house URL
The date and time of your virtual live stream open house will be displayed on the REALTOR® Full Report, under the photos as shown below:
Users can use the “Open House” search in Matrix to review a live stream open house list.
All virtual live stream open house URLs entered into Matrix will also be displayed on REALTOR.ca for the public as shown below:
For more information from CREA on adding a live stream open house to your REALTOR.ca listing, please click here.
If you have any questions, please contact the MLS® Help Desk at 905.667.4650 or [email protected].
Apr 7, 2020 | RAHB Advantage |
In an effort to support its clients, The Personal is offering an auto insurance premium discount to clients who are staying at home. As people are currently driving their vehicles less, The Personal wants to reflect this situation, offering this discount to clients whose commuting habits have significantly changed and who are only using their vehicles for essential trips to such places as the pharmacy or grocery store. This discount is open to people who, for example, are now working from home or have lost their job, or to anyone who is self-isolating. The discount will be calculated over a three-month period and will be in proportion to the annual mileage declared on their insurance contract. Eligible clients who are interested in receiving this rebate should apply at by May 31 at https://www.thepersonal.com/. This news can be found on our dedicated landing page at https://www.thepersonal.com/covid-19-en
In addition, using a personal vehicle for delivery purposes will be temporarily covered under auto insurance policies for The Personal clients. No additional insurance premium will be required, whether someone is doing the deliveries as a volunteer or as an employee of a restaurant, pharmacy or grocery store. No action is required; this relief measure automatically applies to all auto insurance policyholders. This coverage does not apply to people who offer delivery services through third party apps and services like UberEats, Skip the Dishes or DoorDash.
As well, since the current situation is forcing many people to work from home, The Personal has decided to temporarily raise the coverage limit under home insurance contracts for goods used to work from home (e.g., ergonomic chair, computer equipment) to $10,000. No action is required; this additional coverage automatically applies to all home insurance policyholders.
These relief measures are on top of those previously announced. For example, adding liability coverage for a borrowed or rented vehicle at no extra charge for auto insurance policyholders returning early from the US in a rental car. As well, clients who are experiencing financial difficulties because of COVID-19 may continue to receive insurance premium payment relief measures. Each situation will be handled on a case by case basis.
In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, we want to assure you that we are here for you. For more information, we invite you to visit our dedicated web page at thepersonal.com/covid-19
Apr 6, 2020 | Uncategorized |
The Government of Ontario has updated it’s list of non-essential businesses in response to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Although real estate services are still considered essential, the government has prohibited the hosting of open houses effective 11:59 a.m. on Saturday April 4, 2020.
Real estate brokerages, brokers and salespeople must cease hosting and attending open houses. In addition, it is strongly recommended that brokers and salespeople follow the direction of health officials by limiting showings to situations where they are absolutely necessary.
In addition, the government added requirements for short-term accommodation rentals. After April 4, short term rentals can only be provided to individuals who need housing during the state of emergency.
For more information on virtual showings please click here.
Apr 2, 2020 | Uncategorized |
Please note that as part of the Ontario Government’s economic and fiscal update on March 25, the Minister of Finance announced the decision to postpone the 2020 Assessment Update.
