Dec 6, 2017 | DS, RAHB News |
If you weren’t at the RAHB Annual Election Meeting on Tuesday, December 5 at the Royal Botanical Gardens, you were missed!
A lack of quorum at the meeting meant that the election portion of the meeting could proceed, but any voting items such as the proposed Bylaw amendments will be postponed until a future meeting.
OREA – New Direction and Update
Ontario Real Estate Association President Ettore Cardarelli and VP Public Affairs and Communications Matthew Thornton presented a brief look at OREA’s new, more member-focused agenda and provided an update on OREA initiatives. They discussed the goals in OREA’s five-year strategic plan which were described as “doing fewer things, better”. Their plan will focus government relations, standard forms, leadership programs and governance reform.
The Votes are In!
Congratulations to Nikola Bucalo, Kathy Della-Nebbia, Stephanie Pinet and Bob Van de Vrande on their election to the RAHB Board of Directors for 2018!
Your 2018 Directors will be:
- Jack Loft, President
- Lou Piriano, Immediate Past President
- Ann Forbes Arndt
- Nikola Bucalo
- Kathy Della-Nebbia
- Ralph Frisina
- Paul Hammond
- Stephanie Pinet
- Diane Price
- Bob Van de Vrande
- Richard Weima
The election of the President-Elect will take place before the end of the year.
The new Board has been sworn in and will take office January 1, 2018.
Nov 29, 2017 | DS, RAHB News |
RAHB delegates to the Ontario Real Estate Association’s Ontario REALTOR® Party Conference met with local MPPs to discuss two important issues that affect home ownership and real estate registrants: the pending Home Energy Rating and Disclosure (HER&D) legislation and the importance of modernizing the Real Estate and Business Brokers Act 2002 (REBBA 2002).
The meetings took place during OREA’s annual Ontario REALTOR® Party Conference (formerly known as the Political Action Conference) from November 19-21, 2017 in Toronto. RAHB delegates were President Lou Piriano, RAHB CEO George O’Neill, Government Relations Committee Chair Kathy Della-Nebbia and Vice-chair Nicholas von Bredow and GR staff Valerie Webster.
What’s the Home Energy Rating and Disclosure (HER&D)?
The province has proposed a mandatory Home Energy Rating and Disclosure (HER&D) program that would require a seller to do an energy audit before they listed their home, then post the results of the audit on the listing. The audits would be paid for by the program. The goal is to reduce green house gases (GHG).
There are a number of reasons OREA and REALTORS® oppose HER&D:
1. Requiring the audit will not ensure that homeowners will follow through with retrofits; therefore, it does nothing to actually reduce green house gases.
2. The government is allotting $250 million for free energy audits. The same amount could be put toward voluntary audits by all home owners (not just those listing their properties) as well as paying for a portion of the retrofits.
3. The HER&D program targets every home that would be for sale, while a study by the Conference Board of Canada determined that retrofits are most needed for the 76 per cent of homes built in 1995 or earlier.
4. Energy auditors are not licensed by a provincial regulator, not subject to an enforced code of ethics or conduct and are not required to carry errors and omissions insurance.
5. Requiring an energy audit could delay the sale of a home – there may not be enough auditors or auditors may not be able to perform audits in a timely manner.
A poll by Nanos Research indicates that Ontario homeowners overwhelmingly support a government program that would give them a tax break to improve their property’s energy efficiency. Consumers who are staying in their homes are more interested in improving energy efficiency than those who are selling their homes.
The Ontario Real Estate Association is proposing a better solution to reduce green house gases: the Green Home Assistance Program.
This program would use the $250 million allotted to the HER&D program to provide incentives to existing home owners to do an energy audit and then green retrofits. This program would target the 76 per cent of Ontario homes built in 1995 or earlier.
What can you do?
You can write to your local MPP and the Minister of Energy to ask the government to cancel HER&D and support more retrofit incentives for Ontario home owners. The Minister of Energy’s office address is listed below.
The Minister of Energy, Hon. Glenn Thibeault
Ministry of Energy
4th Floor, Hearst Block, 900 Bay Street, Toronto, ON, M7A 2E1
What about modernizing REBBA 2002?
OREA and REALTORS® are advocating to strengthen REBBA by:
1. Having stronger deterrents for unethical behaviour and a regulator that would use the legislation to impose appropriate penalties.
2. Improve continuing education by giving registrants the ability to take the program online or in class, and requiring registrants to take a test to demonstrate their understanding of the material.
3. Requiring a more rigorous licensing education program to better prepare new salespeople for the challenges of a modern real estate market.
4. Updating the code of ethics to reflect items such as social media, new business models and other best practices in the industry.
What can you do?
Write to your MPP and the Minister of Government and Consumer Services, the Hon. Tracy MacCharles to support the review of REBBA to strengthen the legislation. The address for the Minister of Government and Consumer Services is listed below.
The Hon. Tracy MacCharles
Ministry of Government and Consumer Services
6th Floor, Mowat Block, 900 Bay Street, Toronto, ON M7A 1L2
Nov 29, 2017 | DS, Matrix, MLS®, Stats & Technology |
After your listing has been submitted live to saved as incomplete in Matrix, you may add photos and/or supplements. To do so, follow the steps below:
1. From the Button Bar, click “Add/Edit Photos” to add listing photos.
2. Click the “Browse” button to locate the listing photos on your hard drive, then drag your cursor over multiple images (or CRTL and click individual images) to select the ones you would like to upload. For best quality, upload photos that are at least 1024 x 768 pixels.
3. Once listing photos have uploaded, click any thumbnail to enlarge the image and add a photo description (optional). Click the “Done” link when finished, followed by “Save” on the button bar. Please note that thumbnails outlined in red indicate that the image dimensions are smaller than recommended.
4. Click and drag the thumbnail, “Slot: [#]*] to reorder the photos as you would like them to appear in the listing. Please note that this currently only works in Firefox or Internet Explorer browsers.
5. Click “Saved” when complete.
6. From the Button Bar, click “Add/Edit Supplements” to add listing supplements (also known as “Attachments”).
7. Enter a “Supplement Description”, choose a “Supplement Type”, then click the “Browse” button to locate the listing supplement on your hard drive.
8. Click the “Upload” button to upload this supplement to the listing.
9. Click “Save” when complete.
Nov 29, 2017 | DS, Matrix, MLS®, Stats & Technology |
When completing the new RAHB Property Information Form, be sure to pay special attention to the Photo Instructions field, as certain selections will incur a fee.
You must upload a photo to your listing within two business days of receiving an MLS ® number and/or your listing has become active on the MLS ® system. You can take these photographs yourself, or you can have a photographer take them for you.
If you would like REAL Services Photography to shoot your listing photos, select Front View Only or Front View & Back View under the Photo Instructions field. For one photograph, REAL Services will charge a $20+HST fee.
If you would like to provide your own photographs, select Photo to Follow, Photo Attached or Sketch Attached under the Photo Instructions field. By selecting either of these options, you are indicating that you will provide your own photographs within the next two business days.
Nov 28, 2017 | DS, Matrix, MLS®, Stats & Technology |
When you enter the commission to selling brokerage, be sure to include a dollar sign ($) or percentage sign (%) to indicate what the commission will be. When the commission is noted only as, for instance, “1”, there is no indication whether the selling commission is $1 or 1% of the total commission.
You are reminded that the selling commission can be a percentage of the total commission, a dollar amount or a combination of percentage and dollar amount. You MAY NOT offer “zero” or “0” as the selling commission – according to RAHB’s Rules, “An offer of compensation of zero is not acceptable.” [Section 1, sub-section 1.03(b)(iii)]
Nov 28, 2017 | DS, Matrix, MLS®, Stats & Technology |
Have you noticed the new field called Offer Instructions on RAHB’s new residential and commercial Property Information Forms?
The Offer Instructions field is a free form text field you can use to specify special instructions regarding the submission of offers. Instructions might include things like “Form 244 on file”, “Agreement to be prepared on builder forms”, “email offers to [email protected]” or the schedules to be attached to an offer. The field will accommodate 170 characters.
When completed, this information will show up on the REALTOR® Full with Signature Report and both the original REALTOR® Full and the NEW REALTOR® Full reports. The information in this field will not be shown on Client displays.
Please note that you may NOT use this field for instructions for “no offers until…”. Continue to use OREA Form 244 Seller’s Direction re Property/Offers for that purpose and disclose all particulars of your seller’s direction in the REALTOR® Remarks field of the listing.
Please ensure your administrative staff is also aware of how to use the Offer Instructions field for your listings.
Nov 22, 2017 | DS, Member Services, RAHB News |
On Thursday, November 23, 2017 only, the Realty Shoppe will be offering a 20% discount on the following Shoppe products, while quantities last.
Flash Sale Item
|
Regular Price
(+HST)
|
Chili Cook-off Sale Price
(+HST)
|
| Peel and Stick 2018 Calendar Magnets – Home Sweet Home |
$0.50 ea |
$0.40 ea |
| Reversible Welcome Sign – Blue |
$15.85 ea |
$12.68 ea |
| (companion) Reversible Leave Card/Register Sign – Blue |
$4.85 ea |
$3.88 ea |
| Reversible Welcome Sign – Multi |
$15.85 ea |
$12.68 ea |
| (companion) Reversible Leave Card/Register Sign – Multi |
$4.85 ea |
$3.88 ea |
| Reversible Welcome Sign – Black & White |
$15.85 ea |
$12.68 ea |
| (companion) Reversible Leave Card/Register Sign – Black & White |
$4.85 ea |
$3.88 ea |
Discount will be applied to in-store purchases only – you must purchase in person, and personal shopping only please. Some restrictions will apply: please contact the Realty Shoppe (905-529-5979) for details.
Nov 22, 2017 | CREA/OREA/RECO News, DS |
OREA has been taking part in a provincial roundtable convened as a result of the Ontario Fair Housing Plan. The roundtable’s goal is to produce an action plan to address the artificial barriers holding back housing supply.
OREA’s specific recommendations around
- tying infrastructure investment to better zoning by municipalities for more housing;
- cutting red tape for a more streamlined development approvals process; and
- a commitment for home development intensification along transportation corridors
were all incorporated into the Province’s action plan, which will streamline the residential development approval process and bring needed housing to market more quickly and efficiently.
Learn more about the Development Approval Roundtable Action Plan at http://www.mah.gov.on.ca/Page16623.aspx%23Action%20items.
Nov 21, 2017 | DS, Matrix, MLS®, Stats & Technology |
Q: What value do I put in the “Assessment” field of the Residential Property Information Form?
A: When entering information in the “Assessment” section of the Residential Property Information Form, please ensure that you use the Assessed Value appearing on the Geowarehouse Overview – NOT the amount on the Property Inquiry report from the City of Hamilton, or any Phased-in value.
Assessed Value is determined every four years, and the increase is “phased in” over the following four-year period. Assessed Value is what the City determines the property to actually be worth (usually less than what it sells for), while the Phased-In Value is what is used to determine property taxes for that year (it is done this way so that homeowners don’t get a big spike in property tax every four years).
The “Assessment” field was a required field in the regional Matrix system and was implemented in RAHB Matrix so that we could facilitate data-sharing.
Nov 8, 2017 | DS, Matrix, MLS®, Stats & Technology |
When you enter a listing, be sure to list bathrooms separately, using the bathroom code, instead of including them as room features, such as a master en suite.
Why?
Bathrooms must be listed separately as rooms so Matrix can find the bathroom code to use in its automatic calculation of number of baths.
This is important because when others are searching for listings and include number of baths in their search criteria, your listing may be missed because Matrix couldn’t find all the bathrooms you included in your description. Your listing with three full baths and a half-bath may appear to have only two baths and a half-bath if you included one of the baths in a room description.
If you have called a room a bathroom but do not indicate the number of pieces, that bathroom will also be excluded from the total count. Listings with a total such as Bathrooms 1 (0 + 1) could in reality have three full baths and one half bath and again would not be included in search results looking for three or more bathrooms.
If you have any active listings where the bathrooms do not display properly, we suggest you edit the listings as soon as possible. View the video below to learn how.
Nov 7, 2017 | DS, Matrix, MLS®, Stats & Technology |
When you market your listed property two different ways – for example, as a residential property AND a farm – you must complete the appropriate listing form(s) and enter the listings separately to obtain two separate MLS® numbers.
In addition, you must flag both listings with the other listing’s MLS® number, as shown below in Input:
Previously, in Fusion, you also flagged your multi marketed listings with a “Primary” or “Secondary” flag. These flags ensured that when the status of your listings changed, only one of those listings was recorded in RAHB statistics. However, these fields are not available in Matrix.
Therefore, when you report any of your multi marketed listings Sold Firm, you must CANCEL the remaining active listing.
Should you have any questions concerning multi marketed listings, please call the MLS® Support Desk at 905-667-4650 (8:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. weekdays).
Nov 7, 2017 | DS, Matrix, MLS®, Stats & Technology |
1. Right click on your desktop.
2. A small window will open.
3. Hover your mouse over “New” in the small window.
4. Another small window will open.
5. Click “Shortcut”.
6. A pop-up window will open (see photo example below).
7. Under “Type the location of the item:” enter http://my.rahb.ca
8. Click “Next”.
9. Type in a name for the shortcut.
10. Click “Finish”.
