Background: My mother was a Realtor in the 1950s when women were a rarity and not welcome in many real estate offices because they were taking jobs “rightly the domain of men”. Frank Ney, pirate, former mayor of Nanaimo, the Bathtub Capital of Canada, was the president of Nanaimo Realty, a then-dominant independent real estate and development firm on Vancouver Island. Famous for a Toastmaster-award-winning speech, “Sell the sizzle, not the steak”, he wasn’t shy about asserting the woman’s place – maintaining and preparing the home and herself for her husband’s arrival after a day in the trenches.

In 1970 I followed my mother’s footsteps because she had done very well in the real estate business, becoming a developer herself and eclipsing my father’s income to the extent he too obtained his license. Looked good to me. There I was, 25 years young, alert, at my first desk doing a word scramble, waiting for the flood of anxious customers to call.

I noticed other salespeople were – well, out. Doing what I had no idea. Perhaps getting a haircut. The thought they might be prospecting never occurred to me. Knocking on doors or cold calling on the telephone were practices I had been inoculated against, watching adults slam the door or hang up on Fuller Brush, encyclopaedia and accordion salesmen. Surely real estate sales were conducting on a higher plane.

Two events about a year apart set my direction toward management. One day our owner asked if any of us were interested in getting their general insurance broker’s license so the company could broaden its customer service. I suspect the others pointed at me behind my back – young and eager – and off I went. Selling general insurance (mostly automobile and fire) meant folks walked into the office and every house sale was a captive market. The commission on a homeowner’s policy was around $25 and on a house sale about $1,000, so if I sold 40 policies… I’d have to prospect.

Crap!

Within a year, our small independent firm merged with another and was subsequently purchased by the then-expanding Nanaimo Realty. A branch office required a higher level of real estate license and I volunteered to take the course. Within a year I had the front office, big glass ashtray, in/out trays and a Dictaphone. (We kept the scotch in the back room!) I realized quite quickly I had to recruit. To recruit I would have to prospect.

What – again?

It dawned on me that regardless of the product, I was in retail sales and would have to – say it with me – prospect.

One week and 48 years after I was first licensed I received a letter of caution in connection with my supervision of a licensee who was found lacking by our real estate board’s Professional Standards Committee. The finding captured the peril every manager of a real estate office faces. It prompted me to find a book in my library by teacher philosopher Robert Fulghum, It was on fire when I lay down on it. Written in 1991 as a follow up to All I really need to know I learned in kindergarten, the title refers to the answer a man gave when found by firefighters in a smouldering bed and asked how it happened.

Every managing broker acknowledges the frustration of any complaint, be it from a consumer, regulator or association – by the time the file gets to us, it’s too late! The clause has been omitted, the property line described, the tenancy assured, the key released. It’s impractical to supervise a contract drafted on the run in the rush of multiple offers whipped by desperate buyers and awaited by impatient sellers. We must rely on training and ongoing education while hoping that the ego of our licensees allows them to call before they dig.

Fulghum acknowledged that “sin” is inevitable and what we see in others may equally be found in ourselves. He points to the Garden of Eden’s instruction, “Don’t eat that piece of fruit – it will lead to trouble. You know the rest of the story…” When we review the published sins of licensees in B.C. there are two common reactions, the internal reflection “Whew – that could have been me!” and the vocalized, “What a loser!”

There you have it. Bold career move or accident, being a managing broker is not for the faint of heart or ignorant. Challenges will not be avoided by aiming for the greener grass of a famous brand or an exclusive niche. The Scottish proverb, “No matter where you go, there you are” applies to the wanderer and to the welcoming committee.

Why do we persist? In B.C., in the Office of the Superintendent of Real Estate, Michael Noseworthy is hunched over his tablet, carving new rules for managing brokers, rules that will surely increase the risk and expand the job description without regard to a business model built on sand, where the CEO equivalent is frequently compensated as a begrudged necessity.

Religion aside, a lot of good material comes from the Bible and I offer a quote from former REM columnist Don Kyle as a guide. “What comes, comes to pass. It does not come to stay.” The Bible repeats “and it came to pass” 363 times.

So endeth the lesson.

Marty Douglas

Marty Douglas, irregular REM columnist, is a past chair of the Real Estate Council of B.C. He currently sits as a director of the Vancouver Island Real Estate Board, serves as an advisor to the Real Estate Council of B.C. and is on CREA’s Realtor Code Task Force. He is an associate broker with Re/Max Mid-Island Realty on Vancouver Island, B.C.

The post Did you always want to be a fireman…? appeared first on REM.

So I’ve been around. As the old joke goes, if I’d known I was going to live this long, I would have taken better care of myself.

In early 2016, at the request of the Real Estate Council of B.C., the former Superintendent of Real Estate convened the Independent Advisory Group (IAG) to address matters of concern within the real estate industry. Since June of that year – when the IAG chiselled its recommendations into stone only to have God take a brief look, grab the tablets and shoot the messengers – the real estate industry has been waiting for the high heeled pumps to drop.

The government shortly after accepted all recommendations and is now running with them under the guidance of a new Superintendent of Real Estate and the Real Estate Council (REC). While the current focus is Recommendation No. 1 – embedding a Code of Ethics in our legislation and No. 2 – eliminating dual agency, managing brokers should be eyeing those few bullet points a little way down the list. Bullets that will, if implemented, launch them into a higher pay grade, sadly without a commensurate increase. Except for an increase in risk. They include:

• 7 – reviewing and approving Disclosures of Interest in Trade by licensees before a sale is entered into.
• 9 – retaining all offers received on any transaction and at some future date creating a multiple offer registry accessible to buyers.
• 10 – deciphering how the application by the REC of “more stringent suitability assessment criteria” may affect the numbers of prospective licensees.
• 11 – reporting to the REC all misconduct and receiving misconduct reports from licensees.
• 16 – facing increased misconduct penalties up to $250,000 per contravention and increased administrative penalties up to $50,000 per contravention.
• 22 – working under “a maximum ratio of licensees per supervising managing broker”.
• 24 – even more record keeping requirements.

I feel older just reading the list. Speaking of age, I’ve been discussing my eventual retirement with my boss and I think 75 is a nice number to work with, ending a career at 50 years. He – my real estate boss – has no idea where his next managing broker is coming from. Although qualified by license, his skill is sales and quite frankly, he couldn’t live his lifestyle on a managing broker’s compensation, as generous as that may be.

But I’m lucky. My management career – award winning in several categories – has mostly been fully salaried. In my opinion, competing with salespeople for listings and sales inevitably creates conflict and impedes recruiting. Many business models offer salaries to managing brokers that force them to sell. Small offices can’t afford a non-selling manager.

And that’s the other problem – thin margins in the brokerage model. Slim profitability, licensees who can and do leave without notice, escalating costs and the increased financial liability looming from the regulator. What’s not to like about this career path?

Who cares? Well, the real estate education industry for one. The University of B.C. and the British Columbia Real Estate Association have significant investments in pre-licensing and ongoing education for salespersons and managing brokers. While the industry entry door for sales is broadly paved and banked for high speed, the career path for their supervisors is cobwebbed over, cluttered with warning signs and hampered by doomsayers hovering over a smoking cauldron fuelled by low pay and financial liability.

Who should care? The public – in the person of the new Superintendent and his Real Estate Council.

Why? Demographics. In the overall population of B.C., the age group 51 -70 accounts for about 27 per cent of the total. (Males vs. females break down within half a percentage point.) Based on data received from the REC as recently as March 24, 2017, 75 per cent of the managing brokers of B.C. are over 50! And 75 per cent of managing brokers are male. (No wonder women live longer; they get out of the high stress jobs!)

So, we have a comparatively high, older population of managing brokers, aging in place and like the Dead Sea, with relatively little fresh water being added. Not my problem, sales associates say. Or is it?

How many inmates – sorry – salespeople are being supervised by the older cohort? This is where it gets interesting. Sixty-eight per cent of licensees are supervised by managing brokers aged 51 – 70. To put it another way, when 10 Realtors tour a listing, seven of them can probably outrun their managing broker.

And for a final stat: 10 per cent of all licensees in the province, 2,696 to be precise, have a managing broker over 70. The industry should be recognized for its contribution to employing the elderly, proving there is life after a stint as a Walmart greeter. As proof, 249 licensees are supervised by octogenarians.

So when the other shoe drops and managing brokers assess their circumstances, particularly in light of the number of years remaining where they can purchase reasonable travel insurance and enjoy a second martini, I think there may be an exit of substantial proportion.

The industry is between a rock and a hard place. The government – regardless of political stripe, there will be no relief from the left or right on this issue – is resolute and the superintendent has his marching orders. The Real Estate Council, now all “civilian” but for two members, will be determined to confirm the government’s wisdom in their selection. The press, which took a very narrow sample and painted 24,000 licensees with the same brush, will no doubt be receptive to future headline opportunities.

Managing brokers who are approaching the retirement horizon are in a good position. Assuming they have made some preparation for their golden years (and like me, they raise a glass to Ottawa and the younger generation in the last week of every month when CPP and OAS enrich their coffers) when the ultimatum for new regulation comes, they can say, “Excuse me but I don’t think so,” and hit the links – or the pickle ball court.

The regulator does have a challenge. Charged with limiting the number of licensees per managing broker and a declining and aging population of suspects, what direction is likely? There are currently around 1,339 managing brokers supervising 24,516 licensees or roughly 18 licensees per managing broker. But I manage 70 and my competitor manages a similar number. And we know there are a significant number of mega-offices in larger centres with 100 licensees or more. There are about 340 managing brokers who supervise more than one office and there are larger offices with multiple managing brokers. To be fair, there are 1,593 individuals currently licensed as associate brokers, engaged in selling one assumes, who could assume the mantle.) How is that circle to be squared? What is the magic number?

In 1992-93, during my tenure as chair of the Real Estate Council of B.C., a little fuss had been in the public eye involving a real estate licensee, the former premier, a foreign buyer and a bag of cash. The then superintendent fixed us with a piercing eye and asked, “Where was the nominee (managing broker)?”

The knee jerk was a proposal to limit the number of licensees per managing broker to 55. At a subsequent meeting of Vancouver brokerage owners where I introduced the concept, torches, pitchforks and molten tar were wheeled into the room, signalling the crowd’s mood. The idea quickly became an orphan.

That was then.

There’s a new sheriff in town. And you, my managing broker associate, are on his list.

And by the way, if you think any of this is likely to happen prior to the provincial election in May, reminding 24,000 typically Liberal government supporters of the bus they were recently thrown under, then you my friend, are amazing!

Marty Douglas

Marty Douglas, irregular REM columnist, is a past chair of the Real Estate Council of B.C. He currently sits as a director of the Vancouver Island Real Estate Board, serves as an advisor to the Real Estate Council of B.C. and is on CREA’s Realtor Code Task Force. He is an associate broker with Re/Max Mid-Island Realty on Vancouver Island, B.C.

The post Is the managing broker an endangered species? appeared first on REM.

The Norris Report observed and recommended the public would be better served by licensees who were educated under the auspices of UBC, who were subject to a province-wide board and, among other things, had common forms for contracts and listings. Seems like only yesterday we were bitching about education, structure and standard contracts.

Hey, wait a minute!

As we approach the opportunity to effect change by expressing our opinion on the restructuring of real estate in B.C., I thought it might be useful to remind members of all boards and associations in B.C. of how far we have come in the past 60 years and to compliment those who led us through the seemingly difficult transitions of the past we take for granted today.

I won’t bore you with dark ages of the Vancouver Listing Exchange and the acceptance of women into the industry – the ʼ50s – the organizing of boundaries and territories for the boards – the ʼ60s – the entry of franchises, wage and price controls, computers and, God help us, giving salesmen (as they were then officially known regardless of gender) the right to vote in industry affairs – the ʼ70s.

No, I’m going to start with the ʼ80s and a man you have never heard of – Jim Middlecamp. Mr. Middlecamp, an independent broker, objected to the yoke of restraint placed upon him by the members of the Fraser Valley Real Estate Board. The subsequent legal action resulted in the Prohibition Order and brought the attention of all of Canada to the Competition Bureau and the power it wielded.

I was subpoenaed as a former president of BCREA, and offered bus fare from Courtenay to the Lower Mainland to testify. It was a national event, bringing all boards and CREA together. But we were hardly nimble. It took 10 years of post-settlement negotiation with the Competition Bureau by CREA and the provinces and boards to establish the guidelines we work under today. And it cost a lot of money.

The ʼ80s – ah! Who can forget 21 per cent mortgage interest and the then Disclosure of Interest in Trade, introduced by a right wing provincial government, serious about requiring licensees disclosing their interest when buying and selling real estate.

By the ʼ90, the Internet was peeping out. Online retail sales were threatening traditional department stores. Boycotts were planned against those retailers who lacked a “real” store. It didn’t turn out well. 1996 was a busy year. Realtylink.org was launched, the forerunner of mls.ca and Realtor.ca. A B.C. industry study commenced, Real Estate 2010, looking to the future.

Its recommendations followed a familiar theme – mandatory continuing education, a single license system, mentoring tied to licensing and a seamless data base for property information. In 1998, realtorlink arrived – our intranet. In 1999, the large real estate companies of Canada – Century 21, Re/Max and Royal LePage – challenged CREA for control of the national MLS. In the same year a national argument erupted over the inclusion of addresses on multiple listings – Calgary was opposed, Halifax/Dartmouth in favour. That same year five of the seven real estate boards in Nova Scotia merged into one with the provincial association. (Hey, there’s an idea!) CREA encouraged members across Canada to consider the efficiencies of restructuring.

Remember the introduction of buyer agency? 1995. Email? Got my first email server in 1996. The fax machine was headed to the same junk pile as the telegram and teletype I had used the decade before.

Today, we are being blamed for “shadow flipping”. In 1999, the Barrett Commission inquiring into leaky condos heard biased evidence that we, the industry, had known about leaky condos since 1991 and were complicit in failing to do anything about it. “Systemic corruption in the Realtor cartel” summarized the railings of one persistent critic. The ʼ90s saw the voluntary introduction of the Property Condition Disclosure Statement, first used as an experiment by Maple Ridge licensees and offered to the rest of the province when consumers were enthusiastic.

Rolling into the 21^st Century, the two boards on Vancouver Island were seeking executive officers and my observation in a 2001 REM column was, “Will the directors of those boards have the courage . . . will they have the nerve to include Vancouver and the Fraser Valley Boards in a . . . Georgia Basin partnership?” Apparently not. In 2002 my board was restricting advertising of listings to the listing agent only. Hello! Can we spell reciprocity?

Rather than merge, B.C. became a sort of Balkanized European Common Market and around 2003, we invented the Pledge of Co-Operation as a passport for crossing the boundaries of neighbouring real estate boards. Then we discovered those “foreign” members did things like mere postings on properties in our territory. To the barricades! CREA and the Competition Bureau to the rescue.

Even though we had admitted women to the business and given salespeople a vote formerly held only by their broker, in the first decade of this century we were struggling with office staff and managing brokers having access to listing data. My admin staff couldn’t go online to order forms without using my password. And I couldn’t access the office listings to see how my sales team was doing. Both problems were resolved. In 10 years.

Privacy became a flavour of the month in 2003 and every member of CREA got a CD Privacy Toolkit. It made a great coaster. In 2004 we heard the first threat of “disintermediation”, the removal of the intermediary – us – from the transaction. America Online was the “lion coming over the hill”. AOL lost interest, distracted by making money in media.

In 2004, in REM I wrote, “I wish I were from Alberta. Or Ontario. Then I could proudly proclaim, ‘My province has mandatory education!’” Got it now though don’t we? Took about 10 years.

Which brings us to 2005. The new Real Estate Services Act. Disclosure of remuneration. Here’s an email I received: “Why? Is this some sort of April Fool’s joke, or what? Or is it some sort of socialistic-fascism being revisited here? Is this not an invasion of a Realtor’s privacy . . . How far can this idiotic bureaucracy go and get away with?” Apparently we got over the outrage.

Enough. No point in complaining that balancing competition barriers across provincial boundaries cost us the “no part-time salesmen rule” we had enjoyed since 1958. No need to mention FINTRAC and identifying clients. We have adjusted to the post 9/11 world, encasing us in the need for certainty in who we are dealing with. But it wasn’t an easy adjustment.

Change is constant. And in the words of columnist Gene Miller, “Change is horrible – unless it benefits you or you thought of it yourself.” We have to think outside of ourselves to the opportunities available to the industry as a whole by the proposed restructuring. Many of our current members have only a few years of history in our business. Many who vote on this issue will have moved on by the time the transition is complete.

The leaders of this change, the presidents of B.C.’s 11 real estate boards over two years, deserve our respect and thanks for their efforts. Yes, for many of us it will be a leap of faith to vote “in favour”. But think about those leaders, those men and women who we elected to lead our boards and then the province. We elected them because of their willingness to serve, because of their talent and the respect in which they are held. We elected them to govern. We elected them to make decisions. We entrusted them with our industry. They didn’t turn into idiots when they landed at YVR and breathed the Vancouver vapours. It’s time to respect and honour their recommendation.

I began this column with an old children’s nursery rhyme – one for the money, two for the show, three to get ready and four to go. Motivational speaker Rosita Perez said, “A lot of people die, stuck in ‘three to get ready’. Take the next step.”

Marty Douglas

Marty Douglas, irregular REM columnist, is a past chair of the Real Estate Council of B.C. He currently sits as a director of the Vancouver Island Real Estate Board, serves as an advisor to the Real Estate Council of B.C. and is on CREA’s Realtor Code Task Force. He is an associate broker with Re/Max Mid-Island Realty on Vancouver Island, B.C.

The post One for the money: The B.C. proposal appeared first on REM.

“A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away . . .”

Glad you asked. My REM writing experience began in December 1994 with an opinion piece entitled The West Coast Real Estate Fishery – in Peril? Apparently I thought the analogy of the dearth of migrating salmon to the Adams River would ring a nationwide bell as we experienced yet another downturn, not only in buyers but in applicants for a real estate license. We had experienced a doubling of our average price over the prior five years and a corresponding increase in real estate licensees. Then the feed ran out.

Marty’s 1994 column photo.

REM was looking for a west coast flavour and suggested a regular column. Jim Adair and Heino Molls have been putting up with me ever since. Those were the technological dark ages. My first columns were submitted by that new gadget, the fax machine, which was, of course, long distance to Toronto. I remember complaining to Jim about the cost, suggesting meekly that since my column was gratis, would they entertain some reimbursement for the long distance charges. Jim asked if I had heard of email and so I was dragged, without expense, into the 21st century.

REM surprised Marty with a cake to celebrate his 100th column in 2003.

It’s been a blast. REM has been full of surprises along the way, the best being a cake delivered to my west coast office door, decorated to mark my 100th column. My coffee gets cold in a REM mug, one of a case lot our office won in photo contest, and on my dresser is a REM engraved watch. Not a Rolex but still, the thought . . . and so we arrive at column #250. And they said it wouldn’t last.

The most frequent question I’m asked about writing for REM is the source of the monthly columns. And the answer is always easy – the business itself. My involvement in the industry at the board and provincial levels, in a regulatory role on the B.C. Real Estate Council and on the Real Estate Errors and Omissions Insurance Corporation, left me with anecdotes and opinions, some even my own. As my monthly deadline approached, notes from the REM file would coalesce into about 900 words – or not. I was always aware of my surroundings and respected confidences. I avoided dancing to tunes directed by others. At industry meetings I smiled as the chair inevitably asked if there were any members of the press present. I usually sat up front with my notebook but garnered more material from the cocktail and luncheon chatter than the dull business of the annual meeting.

A frequent community theatre actor, Marty is seen here in his role as Underling in The Drowsy Chaperone.

I received a lot of emails. The archives suggest Gary Robinson was my most prolific critic. Now, more frequently, online commentary follows my columns. The online commentary, unlike personal email, is read by any who go to www.remonline.com and inevitably the postings turn into a debate between responders, frequently leaving my column gasping for air on the river bank, as opinionated barbs from regular readers ricochet around the Internet. Heated exchanges were originally between me and one or two letter writers. Now, usually I’m the innocent bystander, albeit the one who lit the fuse.

My August column prompted this request from a 30-plus-year veteran: “Marty, can you speak to why more people don’t just work on their own, under their own banner? Can it be as simple as they feel the need for engaging in the group office atmosphere?”

It’s not that simple because we are dealing with people. Have you ever participated in personality profiling? The program I first took was DISC, which revealed I was a “High I”. A later, more fun analysis was called True Colors (I think I was ‘Blue’). Most high rolling, type A personalities were ‘D’s or ‘Orange’, while accounting types were ‘C’s or ‘Green’. My groups were the huggers, the social crowd who were always afraid if there was no one in the office, it was because there was a party to which we hadn’t been invited.

Marty appeared as one of Cinderella’s step-sisters in a Rogers & Hammerstein review called A Grand Night for Singing. “Here’s what happens when you get old in musical theatre – you either play a bad guy or they put you in drag,” he says. “Not sure which this is!” (Photo by Ross Robinson)

Real estate, while containing readily recognizable “personalities” is made up of all types; yes, even accountants and teachers have succeeded in our business! Not everyone can work from home or a small office. Whether they lack the incentive or self-discipline or whether they need to absorb the “noise”, the kinetic energy of a bull pen, the activity of others demands comparison in yourself.

Franchises, in addition to usually having an office environment, bring the value of the brand, meaning you don’t have to invent your personal banner. Self-branding, whether inside a franchise or as an independent, is one of the goods too many Realtors have been sold as essential to success. Poppycock. (Never used that in a column before!)

October finds us in a federal election. In every past federal election I have urged REM readers to vote. Consistently voter turnout has declined. Coincidence? I think so. But the excuses remain the same. You get the government you deserve. Think about that as you curse Prime Minister Mulcair/Trudeau/Harper later after Oct. 19. If you don’t vote, then have a cup of “shut the hell up!”

And since most advice has been given in the past, hence the study of history, here are 10 tidbits pertaining to real estate from real life – you know, TV and Hollywood.

1. Police Story TV series, 1973-1978 – “I’ve been in this business for a lot of years looking for short cuts. I’ll be the first to let you know if I find one. In the meantime, hit the streets and turn over stones.”
2. United Airlines TV commercial, 1980s – “When you become satisfied with your performance as a team, that’s when you’re finished as a team.”
3. Thelma and Louise movie, 1991 – “You get what you settle for.” – Louise
4. Jerry Maguire movie, 1996 – “If this (gestures to heart) is empty then this (gestures to head) doesn’t matter.” And, “Success consists of simply getting up one more time than you fall.”
5. Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back movie, 1980 – “Do or do not. There is no try.” – Yoda
6. Fellowship of the Ring movie, 2001 – “All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us.” – Gandalf the Grey
7. Any Given Sunday movie, 1999 – “You find out that life is just a game of inches . . . the inches we need are everywhere around us.” – Al Pacino
8. Michael Caine, academy award winning actor – “Actors don’t get paid for the minute or two they spend in front of the camera. They get paid for the preparation and waiting around.”
9. Will Smith, on training for the movie Ali, 2001 – “I desire perfection. I desire being the best that I can be. I don’t wanna take time to eat, I don’t wanna take time to sleep. I wanna let the other guy be eatin’ and sleepin’ while I’m working and while I’m trying to achieve my best earthly perfection.”
10. Howard Brinton, not an actor but a favourite real estate trainer and showman – “You have to practise and memorize your presentation – the reason a magician can pull a rabbit out of the hat is that he put it there before the show began!”

“Th-Th-Th-That’s all folks!”– Porky Pig.

Marty Douglas

Marty Douglas, irregular REM columnist, is a past chair of the Real Estate Council of B.C. He currently sits as a director of the Vancouver Island Real Estate Board, serves as an advisor to the Real Estate Council of B.C. and is on CREA’s Realtor Code Task Force. He is an associate broker with Re/Max Mid-Island Realty on Vancouver Island, B.C.

The post Marty Douglas’ 250th – and final – REM column appeared first on REM.

No, I’m fine thank you, health wise. In general terms, when asked, I refer to my physical condition as “old and fat” rather than attempt attribution to some new age plague or senior symptom of the month.

Besides, most people asking, “How are you?” resent an actual answer, let alone a medical précis culled from the pages of WebMD, summarizing your current physical state. At a recent doctor’s visit for a routine check-up, my doctor – I actually found one older than I am – summarized his likely diagnosis as “de-conditioned”. I kind of like that. And when, not if, I finish the regimen my wife has in mind for me, hopefully I’ll be re-conditioned – or simply old-ish.

So my health is okay. What about the industry? I’ve survived it for 45 years, observing and writing in REM for nearly half of that time. Despite government and regulators throwing curves and every now and then our own associations mixing the signals, we the players keep getting the hits and occasionally hitting one out of the park.

Let’s consider some of the changes and challenges since 1970.

By the way, I’m ignoring technological advances because they are too recent and merely transitory changes in the toolkit. For example, CB radios, colour Polaroid cameras and the financial calculator were “wow” and “got to have” additions for an eye blink. Video is now in its second coming. This time the rapture is caused by a drone-mounted GoPro. Here today – beta tomorrow.

My pick for the No. 1 change is women in real estate. In 1970 there were companies that refused to have women licensees, some leaders maintaining that the proper place for a woman was at home, warming the hearth and dinner while looking inspirational. One of those leaders put it in his book.

Real estate became a life-changing opportunity for some, able to out-earn their male colleagues and their spouses by having a license, combined with the organizational skills and work ethic women seem to possess in greater quantity than men. Personally, I think avoiding the golf course is a major advantage. From zero to greater than 50 per cent in some markets in five decades – nice work!

Salespersons with voting rights and full membership to real estate boards and associations occurred on my watch. Well-deserved but the unintended consequences are of note. First, it marked the decline in volunteerism by owners and managing brokers and the rise in power and influence, not of salespeople but of executive officers.

Second, because owner/managers were salaried, as directors and officers typically they were unpaid except for expenses and, in the president’s case, a modest honorarium. Salespeople discovered they couldn’t exist without a substantial subsidy. The two-year term of office disappeared.

Third, a sense of entitlement became more evident, to progress through the chairs in an orderly fashion – you go, then you go, then you. Idiot or not, it’s their turn.

One of my favourites – you need to disclose. At first that you were a licensee purchasing or renting for your own use and by the time we experimented with agency, how much money you would make on every transaction. In B.C., under an NDP government, the first disclosure form had to be red! Talk about your scarlet letter.

Next up, I’m acting for the seller! No, I’m acting for the buyer! No I am! Hey, over here, I’m Spartacus! And so agency was examined, dissected and tossed back to us, in various forms and terminology. We took the courses, filled out the paper work, stumbled a bit when they changed the paperwork and carried on. Agency is something every licensee claims to understand but let it get between them and a paycheque and watch the rationale fly.

For decades B.C. and Ontario took great pride in being leaders in education, regulation and professionalism. But when it comes to taking action, in my opinion, Alberta shows leadership and continues to lead the way in reform. All credit to the Alberta regulators and industry for requiring buyer service agreements. If memory serves, they also were among the first to require written consent to referrals by the client being referred.  Huh? Alberta?

FINTRAC? Don’t get me started. Again, we took the course, listened dully to managers ranting and filled out the paper. More paper? Changed paper? A spread sheet to track repeat clients for five years? Sure, bring it on.  I’ll be on that wall between you and terrorists. Remember Jack Nicholson in A Few Good Men? “…deep down in places you don’t talk about at parties, you want me on that wall – you need me on that wall!”

Was 1970 a simpler time? I’m looking at my first sale contract. One page, including the commission agreement. Enough said. But we did have that messy carbon paper to deal with, then NCR – oh goody, more change!

Real estate is simple. You find some folks, show them some houses and give them reasons to buy. All the rest is show. There is no shortcut and there are no secrets. Except the secret handshake of course.

Make no mistake, I love this business. It’s been good to my parents and to my family. Not even the government can screw it up!

My last column is in October, next month. Speaking of October, in 2007, editor Jim Adair redacted a quote I used involving references to certain residents of the island of Lesbos, the weather and Uncle Bud. Will I manage to sneak it by his blue pencil? Check it out!

Marty Douglas

Marty Douglas, irregular REM columnist, is a past chair of the Real Estate Council of B.C. He currently sits as a director of the Vancouver Island Real Estate Board, serves as an advisor to the Real Estate Council of B.C. and is on CREA’s Realtor Code Task Force. He is an associate broker with Re/Max Mid-Island Realty on Vancouver Island, B.C.

The post Marty Douglas: We’ve seen a few changes since 1970 appeared first on REM.

It makes you evaluate and do a tally. I came to my current position as a managing broker nearly three years ago when the office staff numbered 59 licensees. Since then, 24 have joined the brokerage, 13 are new to the business, 11 experienced. So you wouldn’t be surprised if our total today was in the high 70s, allowing for some attrition.

Sorry. It’s 67. A net gain of eight. Those are the realities of turnover.

Still, a .333 average will get you into the Baseball Hall of Fame. And when we look at the age group of existing licensees and the increase in the number of women in the business, we shouldn’t be surprised by attrition due to retirement and parental leave – challenges faced by every segment of the labour market.

In our case, of the 16 no longer in the trenches on our team, half were a combination of retirement, parental leave and spousal transfer. The other half saw greener grass. Or cheaper grass.

In the ʼ80s, because we added new people every year, we took an annual group photo. Yes, it was in black and white! For history, I started blackening out the faces of those missing in action from the original photo. In 10 years there were only four of us left out of 24. In hindsight the churn or burn rate is shocking. My goal was to do all I could to make sure the reason for leaving was out of my control.

Every manager and owner has one critical responsibility – recruiting. Then comes the nasty bit.

In the early years, in a galaxy far, far away, there was a franchise called Realty World. It was brought to Canada in the 1970s by Harold Waddell, one of the most respected Realtors in the greater Vancouver marketplace. As an international franchise, Harold’s region outshone other North American franchise members. Canadian offices regularly hauled home trophies from whatever U.S. city the international convention gathered in. Today, particularly in Western Canada, those former Realty World offices are the backbone of Royal LePage.

Realty World’s strength was in its broker council, a group of managers and owners who believed in the strength of the brand. We met every two months and the annual two-day goal-setting session inevitably had recruiting high on the agenda. In assessing one particular Fraser Valley brokerage, the facilitator criticized the manager’s recruiting. We’ll call the manager Bill because that was his name. Bill wound himself up to his steely 5ʹ8ʺ and hissed, “Our company is very good at recruiting. We’re just piss-poor at retention.”

I don’t know which is worse, the weekend desk clean-out and farewell note, or the late in the day visit from the departing salesperson who says something like, “It’s nothing personal, just business.” But of course that’s not the case. It’s very personal.

People leave for a variety of reasons, as long-time REM columnist Barry Lebow noted in a recent issue. His advice, “Ethics – over all else”, should be the guide. The reality of many transitions is summed up in an old Scottish proverb, “No matter where you go, there you are.” When they get to where they are going, after the enthusiastic greeting, it turns out it’s the same grass! Listings are the name of the game and that means prospecting, spending a couple of hours a day seeing the people. You don’t do that on the golf course or behind a desk. You do that face to face, voice to voice, a minimum of 10 times a day. Simple.

Despite what the departed say, many don’t leave for a better deal. Incentive recruiting is a two-edged sword and inevitably, the bonus comes to an end. We recruit with a long view. Some will tell you they leave because of the manager. Okay, I’ll take that hit for the team. Many leave because the work effort required is a surprise, because they aren’t as “lucky” as others, because their hands weren’t held as they crossed the road.

In her boot camp for real estate office managers, Dyan Dobbin explained, “We’re running our real estate agencies like adult day care facilities.” Which caused me to reach back once again to my Realty World days and a great manager from Campbell River, B.C., Barry Watchorn. “We are too soft in this business. We spend too much time herding turkeys up and down the runways, hoping they’ll fly,” he said.

Look. Real estate is not an easy job. It shouldn’t be for the bucks we are paid. But it is a simple job, which is why we don’t need a university degree to qualify for licensing. Ready for the lesson? LIST PROPERTY, FIND PEOPLE AND GIVE THEM REASONS TO BUY! The most important thing you can do in ANY sales position, vacuum cleaners or sex toys, is go out to find the client, not wait for them to come to you. Good people are in the business, in and out of the office, every day.

Re/Max’s Dave Liniger said recently that the downside of an improving market (in the USA of course, never in Canada!) is that part-timers and losers come back into the business. Inevitably, we will manage someone of modest talent. Their presence in the office or on the team can be a detriment to recruiting. David Knox, one of the best trainers in real estate and a speaker not to be missed, asked this question: “What would you rather have – an empty kennel or a dead dog?”

As they say at UBC, “Tuum est.”

Marty Douglas

Marty Douglas, irregular REM columnist, is a past chair of the Real Estate Council of B.C. He currently sits as a director of the Vancouver Island Real Estate Board, serves as an advisor to the Real Estate Council of B.C. and is on CREA’s Realtor Code Task Force. He is an associate broker with Re/Max Mid-Island Realty on Vancouver Island, B.C.

The post When salespeople leave you: Recruiting agents, and keeping them appeared first on REM.

Here’s the fire starter headline from REM: Will real estate brokers get ‘Ubered’ out of a career? by Robert E. Lee. Not the most original name for a revolutionary but probably not one he could do much about. Mr. Lee suggests the success of Uber (not so much in Montreal but c’est la vie!) is a red flag for our industry, that gatherers of BIG DATA will soon create platforms where buyer and seller will meet to finally accomplish what has been threatened for decades – disintermediation.

At a recent Re/Max meeting of owners and managers, Adam Lerner reminded the group that computers can “see”, “hear” and “write” as well as humans. Adam is the founder of Solvable and assisted the Journey of Discovery team at BCREA to contemplate the future of British Columbia real estate. Not only can computers do things as well as or better than humans – THEY CAN DO IT FASTER! All they need is data.

Freelancer.com. Haven’t heard of it? Well, it’s where you and I may be working tomorrow. Sixty per cent of the world is not connected to the Internet. Forty per cent of online learners are from developing countries. It doesn’t matter if you don’t know what you’re doing or what you want to do because you can learn it or have it provided online. How else did I learn napkin folding?

What’s behind Mr. Lee, the fire starter? A franchise called RealtyPoint. What do they promise? To do everything for you – except the messy bit about selling.

Still calling it the “new” economy? Sorry, it’s the “present” economy but some of us have myopia. We haven’t grasped the forest has been clear-cut and we’re working among a rapidly changing opportunity for work. At a recent panel discussion in the Comox Valley – not exactly Silicon Valley – we heard presentations from a local inventor who is creating 3D models of undersea oyster farms. His team consists of an electrical engineer in New Zealand and a manufacturer in Ireland. His assembly and testing is done in Victoria, all for a site on a remote bay on Quadra Island, monitored from his home in Cumberland. Google Map those co-ordinates.

On the same panel was an engineer for a logging equipment manufacturer in Campbell River who does design/build with 3D modelling, imports steel and builds multi-million dollar, computer-operated grapple yarders worth $1.5 million per copy. He sells and maintains them for logging companies in B.C. and also to Oregon and New Zealand. Now he’s having a crack at Chile.

The third person on the panel writes a computer language for video games that is revolutionizing the industry from that hub of high tech – Port Alberni. His challenge is finding a community with housing to accommodate what might be a team of 100. After you house us, we’ll worry about the working space we need.

Their common problem is transportation – not of people but of lumpy objects.

My real estate board introduced new technology to the members in late May. Remember this name or Google it right now – Trenlii. It may be the most progressive step forward in a practical real estate tool since Top Producer.

Here’s what Trenlii will do:

• Embed charts into your website created to your specifications – personal activity or market in general – updated automatically.
• Post statistical facts created automatically for Twitter and Facebook networking.
• Review listing data on competitive listings on a map format that also allows street views.
• Advise clients in chart form on the price they might expect to obtain based on when they bought their house.
• Create an interactive map of competitive listings and email it to your client at times you select.
• In major urban areas, pick any crime by type and see occurrences in any neighbourhood.

The premise of Trenlii is to interpret the data the client doesn’t have from public sources (but would kill for!) and allow the Realtor to initiate different discussions about the marketplace. It makes us credible interpreters of the information the Internet has given the consumer. What experienced Realtors intuitively know, Trenlii provides in a third-party expert presentation.

Trenlii feasts on BIG DATA. Here’s the good news – we have the data.

Here’s the bad news. My favourite forecast is closer to the truth than ever before.

From Warren Bennis, the leadership pioneer who died one year ago, “The factory of the future will have only two employees, a man and a dog. The man will be there to feed the dog. The dog will be there to keep the man from touching the equipment.”

Do the best you can.

Marty Douglas

Marty Douglas, irregular REM columnist, is a past chair of the Real Estate Council of B.C. He currently sits as a director of the Vancouver Island Real Estate Board, serves as an advisor to the Real Estate Council of B.C. and is on CREA’s Realtor Code Task Force. He is an associate broker with Re/Max Mid-Island Realty on Vancouver Island, B.C.

The post Marty Douglas: Learning to deal with big data appeared first on REM.

At that long-ago conference, one of the keynote speakers – Gandalf the Grey perhaps – suggested the future of real estate would benefit greatly from divorce and the resulting new household formations.

I was 42 and my personal “household reformation” was far in the future and so the concept was hazy to say the least. However, looking back I acknowledge the speaker may have been one of the few demographic futurists who got something bang on. To be fair, I suppose if you look at the large clump in the population tree we refer to as baby boomers, it’s not too hard to suggest we – yes I’m a suspect – will do more than other generations of any single activity (weight loss, fitness and adultery – to name two warning signs connected to an original sin!), which explains the current demand for Viagra, Depends and Rolling Stones tours. Hell, even Barry Manilow is on the road. But I digress.

It’s not unusual – Tom Jones anyone? – for couples who decide to separate, to call their Realtor to assist in dividing the inseparable joint tenancy, the home once filled with so many memories and now containing nothing but fear and loathing.  For many, I’m sure, the journey concludes without a hiccup. A buyer is found quickly, a price is agreed upon and the once-happy couple get separate cheques from their attorneys.

But then there’s the real world, the world of bitter recriminations following an affair, substance abuse or debt or violence.  In these circumstances one partner extends their rejection of the other to any salesperson their ex might select.  The result is a co-listing, with one or two brokerages.

Which brings us to agency!

How do you serve a seller comprised of two parties who, in contract and on title, are inseparable? Agency demands the agent be a pipeline of communication, not a filter.  When one spouse tells their agent, “I’ve got a new ‘friend’ and we need to sell quickly so we can get on with our lives – but don’t tell my spouse,” what are the agent’s duties?

Consider this excerpt from the Real Estate Council of B.C.’s June 2014 newsletter, reprinted with permission.

“Linda Licensee* at XYZ Realty Ltd. was approached by two past clients, Tom and Trixie, to list their family home for sale. Tom and Trixie were getting a divorce, but they explained to Linda that their relationship was amicable and they were in agreement about selling the property. The listed price was a little on the high side, but they weren’t in a rush. Despite the circumstances, Linda was delighted to represent Tom and Trixie.

“A few days after the listing agreement was signed, Linda called to make the first appointment to show the property. Tom answered and informed her that since Trixie had moved out with her new boyfriend, he no longer wanted to sell the property. He declined Linda’s request for a showing, demanded that she cancel the listing and announced that he was leaving for Hawaii and wouldn’t be in communication at all for several weeks. He then instructed Linda not to tell Trixie anything about his desire to cancel the listing or his planned trip to Hawaii.

“Somewhat taken aback, Linda called Trixie at work, described her conversation with Tom and asked Trixie what she should do. Trixie told her not to worry, she’d calm Tom down. She told Linda to continue marketing the property and asked her to prepare a price reduction and email it to her at work to sign, because she had decided to get the property sold as soon as possible. Trixie directed Linda not to tell Tom of her instructions. She would fill him in when she met with Tom to calm him down.

“Linda complied; the price reduction was signed by Trixie and broker-loaded to MLS. The new price attracted a lot of interest and the next day Linda called the house again to make appointments to show the property. Tom answered the phone. He was outraged.

“He told Linda he had filed a complaint with the Real Estate Council because she hadn’t acted in accordance with his instructions; she had failed to maintain the confidentiality of his information; she had reduced the price of the property without his authorization; and she had failed to act in his best interest, preferring the interests of Trixie over his. His lawyer was commencing proceedings against Linda for failing in her duties to him as a client.

“After alerting her managing broker and advising the Real Estate Errors & Omissions Insurance Corporation of the potential legal proceedings, Linda sat down to reflect on what she could have done to avoid this unfortunate turn of events.”

First thing – change your name! (By the way, * means not her real name, nor is there an XYZ Realty Ltd.)

We get paid the big bucks to do the right things and understanding agency and fiduciary duties is the highest standard to which we are held. We are expected to know what to do.  Consider this paragraph from the same article:

“When the designated agent is comprised of more than one licensee, all of those licensees owe fiduciary duties to the client. When two licensees co-list a matrimonial home owned jointly by spouses, each licensee owes fiduciary duties to both spouses. In these cases, the spouses may wish to modify the fiduciary duties of their designated agent through a written agreement, specifying that each licensee will owe fiduciary duties to one of the spouses but not both.”

Modify?  How? With what words?  How do we handle disputes?  Who speaks for the sellers? Yes, the parties may have lawyers and a separation agreement but did they consider selection of and instructions to the listing salesperson in the wording? Will the sellers go back to their lawyers to ask for instruction specific to confidentiality and disclosure? More likely they will turn to their agents to cobble a solution. Reluctant to admit they don’t know how to cobble this particular shoe to fit, they invent. In the field, licensees do their best, managers assess the results, civil courts, real estate councils and insurance companies poke and prod the entrails.

Get it in writing and act accordingly.

Be careful out there!

Marty Douglas

Marty Douglas, irregular REM columnist, is a past chair of the Real Estate Council of B.C. He currently sits as a director of the Vancouver Island Real Estate Board, serves as an advisor to the Real Estate Council of B.C. and is on CREA’s Realtor Code Task Force. He is an associate broker with Re/Max Mid-Island Realty on Vancouver Island, B.C.

The post Real estate and divorce appeared first on REM.

We learned via social media that we had lost Manitoba’s Brian Collie. Later, more formal notices revealed he was 67 – too young – and the extent of his influence on the Canadian real estate landscape. Brian died on April 1 and I’d like to think he’s chuckling somewhere over the subtlety of the date.

I was influenced by Brian indirectly as a result of his relationships with several executive officers and staff in British Columbia.  I learned the best executive officers are those who steer the ship but never get caught with their hands on the wheel. Alan Creer, Donn Gardner, Dermot Murphy and Rob Stevens exhibited great strength of character while accepting the direction of their organizations, coaching and guiding them to national and international prominence. Robert Fawcett and Robert Laing continue their exemplary style. Brian stood among them.

My first professional connection with Brian was my appointment as MC for the 2009 Banff Western Connection.  I was filling some pretty big shoes – CBC radio personality Bob Robertson – and had been offered the opportunity by email. Robertson’s opening monologue in 2007 had been hilarious, featuring impressions of Queen Elizabeth and several Canadian political personalities. Rex Murphy was the keynote speaker as I recall. Brian bravely left me to my own devices and after I stage-managed having my tie cut off and getting laughs at the expense of the four western provinces, the pressure of the opening ceremony was over and I must have sailed through the remaining days because on the closing night, Brian, along with Bill Madder, handed me a cheque. I’ve had the gig ever since.

There are giants in our industry, past and present, and Brian was recognized in REM’s 25th anniversary edition as one of the most influential.  The passing of giants begs the question: “Will we see their like again?” As an observer of 4 1/2 decades of real estate, much of that in the hallways of associations and regulators, I can assure you they are in the making as we speak.  They are likely to be listening, not speaking; learning, not teaching; observing, not critiquing; preparing, not ad libbing. They may be licensed practitioners or professional administrators currently in the minor leagues, waiting for their shot “in the bigs”. But they are there.  When the teacher is ready, the student will appear.

Losing a colleague causes reflection.  Losing a friend and mentor results in an outpouring of emotions – sorrow, appreciation and condolences – all evident on Brian’s online obituary postings. Quiet moments of analysis filled with sincere comments of “Why now?” and “How unfair!” frequently then turn inward and make us ponder how long until we “shuffle off this mortal coil”.

In the minutes before starting this column, I recalled a recently heard lyric in the Lady Antebellum song Hello World – “Maybe talk to God like he is there.” Believer or not, there is a comfort in having a conversation about one’s own mortality with a friend, even an imaginary one. As I continue to remind our sales team, progress without measurement is just meandering.  What value is a diet without a weigh-in or measurement?  How far should you travel without checking the map or chart? As we age, those measurements change from the concrete, the lumpy objects of material possessions, to the intangibles of family, friends and community service. What footprints have I left? Robin Sharma wrote a book on achieving inner peace, Who will cry when you die? Life lessons from the monk who sold his Ferrari.

Indeed.

Bill Madder, quoted in REM’s 25th anniversary issue and noted in REM’s online obituary, said:  “Brian Collie’s persona of a quiet guy from a small association in the wilderness belies his true power in the industry and his ability to get things done. Brian always knows what is going on in the business from coast to coast and does a great job of working with all the right people to get the right things done for the betterment of our profession. From education to federal affairs to MLS to ethics, Brian has had a hand (sometimes invisible but always there) in most of the major changes in the real estate world over the past 25+ years.”

Brian was, as the best leaders are, inclusive, willing to share and even to yield the stage, to push those deserving of recognition or opportunity to the forefront. His legacy is his example.  An African proverb suggests, “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.”

Thanks for the journey Brian.

Marty Douglas

Marty Douglas, irregular REM columnist, is a past chair of the Real Estate Council of B.C. He currently sits as a director of the Vancouver Island Real Estate Board, serves as an advisor to the Real Estate Council of B.C. and is on CREA’s Realtor Code Task Force. He is an associate broker with Re/Max Mid-Island Realty on Vancouver Island, B.C.

The post Thanks for the journey, Brian: Remembering Brian Collie appeared first on REM.

Having just emcee’d the Banff Western Connection, I’m adjusting to the leisure of a regular attendee at my brand’s international conference. Nearly 10 times the number of delegates are here but the routine is familiar. Opening receptions, keynote speakers, awards, educational sessions, motivational speakers and the big closing bash – the difference is in the name dropping. The opening session features Brian Buffini and the closing party headliner is rocker Steven Tyler.

Other than that, Realtors fill the rooms, swap business cards, renew old friendships and embark on new journeys. The trade show bazaar is shrill – “Buy from me! Look here Mister – almost free!” Tech tools abound and each shiny item is a temptation – to be avoided. Forty-five years in the business whisper in my ear – “You only need a pen and/or a QWERTY keyboard and they have been around for more than 100 years!”

In between Banff and Vegas, I attended my home board’s annual general meeting – as every member should because the world is run by the ones who show up. Not much excitement this year, and that’s a good thing compared to last year’s mea culpa: “Oops, we seem to have misplaced a tad more than a hundred grand!”

AGMs often struggle with membership attendance, causing innovative amendments to the constitution and bylaws such as reducing the size of the necessary quorum. (My solution – evolve to a benevolent dictator, as long as it’s me!) Our board has tried lavish balls, innovative speakers, educational credit and the ultimate in bribery, the free lunch. It all produced a similar result – poor representation except by those who are paid to be there, those within a few minutes driving distance and those few of us who think membership deserves attention to the governance of our multi-million dollar asset.

After all, we trust them to handle a couple of million dollars in revenue every year, most of it mailed in by the members. Perhaps we should check in and by doing so, hold them accountable. But then, many of you don’t vote in our other common membership – federal, provincial and municipal elections – so why am I surprised?

One of my heroes, Phil Edgett of Royal LePage with 30-plus years in the business, hasn’t missed an AGM since becoming a member. Sadly there are no awards for perfect attendance and while others are recognized for charitable gestures and years of tenure on the board of directors, Phil has refused recognition, preferring to keep private the work he does, the passion he has and the value he brings as an example of perseverance to our industry. If I could transfer my Realtor of the Year Award to Phil, I would.

CREA is a welcome presence at our AGM and the presentation reminded us to get and stay involved at the CREA level. Hey, it’s not just about Webforms! Want to own your name as your domain? Get to the CREA website. Need to send a blizzard of protest to your MP over – oh I don’t know, FINTRAC? Make sure you are enrolled in the Realtor Action Network. Want to embed some great video in your website? CREA resources. How do those folks at Point2 get your listing? Check in to your settings on the DDF. How many views on that listing last week as you try for a renewal? Personal stats. All on the CREA website.

But you knew that.

VIREB’s keynote speaker, morning television personality Riaz Meghji, presented Every Conversation Counts, the importance of the influence of conversations in our own lives, and of our conversations on others.

In thinking back to conversations that got me where I am today, they occurred 46 years ago. One was with a complete stranger in a job interview who, in turning my application down, commented that as a recent university student I wasn’t likely to stick with his company. Without my help it became Telus.

And my mother, who after I complained about the lack of job opportunities asked, “Why don’t you try real estate?”

Thanks Mom. I’m still trying.

Marty Douglas

Marty Douglas, irregular REM columnist, is a past chair of the Real Estate Council of B.C. He currently sits as a director of the Vancouver Island Real Estate Board, serves as an advisor to the Real Estate Council of B.C. and is on CREA’s Realtor Code Task Force. He is an associate broker with Re/Max Mid-Island Realty on Vancouver Island, B.C.

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