BRAMPTON Real Estate Board

 

This would hurt.

The Government is considering making it mandatory for home buyers to disclose the details of any offer being made on a home in a multiple offer situation.

This could include the disclosure of personal financial information to any interested parties.

Hard working REALTORS® like you would face increased red tape.

The Government is consulting on a mandatory open offer process.

Buyers and sellers should have the choice of using an open, transparent process.

But the Government should not force consumers to gamble their life savings in an experimental, mandated open offer process.

We need you to take action now by emailing your MPP.

You can help stop this.

 

Today, we received notice that the Travel Industry Council of Ontario (TICO) and Real Estate Council of Ontario (RECO) have affirmed the right of real estate brokerages to transact short-term rental properties.

The affirmation comes in the form of bulletins from both regulators that clarify the rights of Ontario real estate brokerages under REBBA to transact short-term rental properties.

Thanks to this ruling, our members will not have to register as travel agents in order to transact vacation properties provided they do it through their brokerage – saving members thousands of dollars in costs and dozens of hours taking courses/passing exams.

You will recall that this issue was brought to OREA’s attention by the Southern Georgian Bay Association of REALTORS® and The Lakelands Association of REALTORS® whose local members were receiving compliance letters from TICO asking them to register as travel agents.

Through some quick action, OREA was able to get TICO to stop their double registration compliance campaign. TICO and RECO then set about creating a short-term solution to the problem which was announced today in the form of the below bulletins.

Going forward, OREA will be working with Minister Bill Walker and his team to address the issue for the long-term as part of the Province’s updates to REBBA.

Congrats everyone.

This is another great example of what a united and strong REALTOR® voice can do to protect its members from unnecessary red tape and costs.

Read OREA’s statement here: https://www.orea.com/…/News-an…/Press-Releases/April-12-2019

Read the RECO bulletin here: https://www.reco.on.ca/reg…/short-term-accommodation-rentals

Read the TICO bulletin here: https://www.tico.ca/news/advisory/330-advisory-short-term-accommodation-rentals.html

 

 

Earlier today, Ontario’s Minister of Finance delivered the first provincial budget on behalf of the Ford Government.

 

Below is a summary of the 2019 Ontario Budget and its high-level impact on real estate and housing in Ontario.

 

Budget 2019 Highlights

 

The 2019 Budget highlights that are expected to impact housing include;

 

HOUSING ISSUES

 

• Housing Supply Action Plan. A clear and strong commitment to increase Ontario’s supply of housing by reinforcing the important role that the upcoming Housing Supply Action Plan (HSAP) will have in bringing forward solutions to make it faster and easier to build housing and make housing more affordable.

 

• • The HSAP will be flexible so that communities across Ontario can build what it needed while ensuring the protection of sensitive areas like the Greenbelt, preserving cultural heritage, and maintaining Ontario’s agriculture sector.

 

• • To address housing affordability, the budget commits that the Government will deliver on the HSAP and introduce legislation by Spring 2019.

 

• Transit Oriented Development. The Budget commits the Province to move forward with its Transit Oriented Development Strategy which includes innovative ideas like building stations to help pay for expanded transit and to create housing choices for Ontario families.

 

• Tarion Reform.  The budget reinforced the Government’s commitment to protecting home buyers by taking action to transform the Warranty Corporation by proposing to establish a regulator separate from Tarion to address conflicts of interest involving new-home builders and vendors.

 

• Property Tax Reform. The budget announced that the Province will be developing an action plan to improve the property tax system in Ontario that will focus on enhancing the accuracy of property assessments, support a competitive business environment, provide relief to residents, and increase taxpayer representation at the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation.

 

OTHER ISSUES

 

• The Deficit. The Government confirmed that it has already cut the provincial deficit by $3.3B, down from $15B to a projected $11.7B.  The Government is further planning another $1.4B in deficit reduction for the 2019-20 fiscal year.

 

• CARE. The budget introduced several new measures, including the Ontario Childcare Access and Relief from Expenses (CARE) tax credit, a commitment to provide $1B over the next five years to create up to 30,000 child care spaces in schools, investing an additional $384M in hospitals, and an additional $267M in home and community care to help address hallway healthcare.

 

• Ontario Job Creation Investment Incentive. The Province has announced that it will provide $3.8B in income tax relief over six years for the Ontario Job Creation Investment Incentive to help Ontario remain competitive with existing rates and competing US jurisdictions.

 

• Estate Tax Cut. The budget includes the announcement of the elimination of the Estate Administration Tax on the first $50,000 of the value of the estate, however, it will continue to apply to the value of the estate exceeding $50,000 at the current rate.  This should amount to a savings of $250 per transaction.

 

Key Takeaways for OREA

 

OREA is pleased to see the Government reinforce its commitment to increasing the supply of housing through the work being done to support the Housing Supply Action Plan. We are encouraged to see a commitment to move forward with the plan, including the introduction of legislation in the Spring of 2019.

 

Please do not hesitate to contact me directly should you have any questions or require additional information.

 

Our message is simple: YES to the OPTION of a more transparent process. NO to forcing homeowners to use an open offer process to sell their properties.

This is a serious issue.

Mandating open offers is referenced in the Ministry consultation document. If we want to stop mandatory offers, then MPPs need to hear from REALTORS® about it.

Here’s what you can do:

• Share our call for action on your social channels: REBBAreform.ca/action.html

 

• Retweet, repost, share OREA’s social media content on transparency of offers this week and drive members to REBBAReform.ca/action.html; and,

 

• Encourage all your fellow REALTORS® to respond to the call for action.

 

You can email our OREA team with any questions.

Thank you for your help.

Are you Really Negotiating?

 

 

Understanding how to effectively Negotiate is an imperative skill for REALTORS^®.

Learning how to ask the ‘right’ Negotiation probing questions, with focus to help Members’ develop professional qualities of patience & empathy.

 

This webinar, “Are You Really Negotiating?”, will provide members thoughtful discussion and tools to enhance trading with negotiation integrity.

 

Webinar Learning Objectives:

• Building confidence during negotiations
• Identifying consumer education negotiation points
• Reviewing optimal REALTORS^® etiquette and communications
• Re-visiting regulatory obligations and possible Brokerage options
• Trouble shooting complications – the mad rush or wild miscommunications
• Learning REALTOR^® compromise, being a sounding board of reason

 

The session will include a 45-minute presentation, followed by 15-minute Q & A period, facilitated by Cassandra Agnew Walker joined by Laura Leyser, fellow REALTOR^®.

 

It takes place at 1PM EST on May 15, 2019. Registration can be completed online  now.

 

Visit the orea.com Standard Forms landing page to view the recording of this webinar (available within 14 days of the scheduled webinar date), as well as our comprehensive list of OREA Forms resources benefiting REALTOR^® Members.

 

All OREA Standard Forms webinars, webcasts, forms explained files, tutorials and related resources are for OREA members only. 

 

ATTN REALTORS®: We need your help. The Province is updating REBBA and major changes are on the table. Changes like Personal Real Estate Corporations! Visit www.REBBAreform.ca/takeaction and send an email to your MPP asking them to support a modern REBBA. #REBBAreform #Onpoli

REBBA Review All-Member Email Copy FINAL

REBBA FINAL Submission_Q&A

2019-04-08 REBBA Key Messages (Boards) FINAL

2019-04-08 OREA’s REBBA Submission – News Release FINAL

 

 

Introducing New Possession Date Field – April 8     

 

During the evening of Monday April 8^th, Stratus will be enhancing the way that Possession Date information is recorded and displayed in listings.

 

The existing Possession Date field will be renamed “Possession Remarks” and you will be able to select an actual date from a calendar control in order to populate the new revamped “Possession Date” field.

The end result of this will be that going forward, you will be able to search for listings that have been assigned a date within a specific range for their Possession Date value:

The Possession Remarks field will contain the historical Possession Date information, and will be utilized for entry of free form text information pertaining to the possession date.

 

The system will enforce a MANDATORY data requirement, in that that you must enter information into at least one of these two fields before you can submit the listing.

 

The new Possession Date info that is entered will, of course be displayed in the system’s detail reports for property listings.