With Remembrance Day long weekend behind us, Black Friday and Christmas are firmly ahead. Like all married men, I struggle at this time of year sky rockets trying to find the perfect gift for my wife… any great ideas?
In the News
- Don’t Lie to your Regulator – A realtor in Vancouver was suspended when he forged a fake medical excuse note for one of his unlicensed assistants after he had handed in a licensing assignment late (CBC story here). His assistant had texted him “I need a note somehow saying I was in the hospital.”… and the Realtor offers “We will make it work,” he wrote. “My (family member) said he could do letter np.”… the BCREA administrator discovered and reported the forgery. The assistant will have to undergo a conduct hearing prior to continuing to be a licensee and the Realtor (who was complicit in the forgery) was fined, suspended and ordered to take an ethics course…. Remember your conduct as a regulated professional extends to all that you do.
Christmas Closings
- Christmas break is NEVER a good time to close a real estate deal. Many banking, legal and accounting professionals are away (our office is closed during the Christmas week). Unless there is a good corporate year end reason WHY a deal needs to close on December 31, you should be recommending to your clients to schedule their closings for earlier (DEC 20th) or later (JAN 4th). Note in both cases I have picked these dates to allow some time for requesting of mortgage funds from banks or administrative delays in receipt of funds. Remember CLOSING DATE and POSSESSION DATE are often different days (and should be at least a day apart)… at Christmas time it is VERY common to see CLOSING DATE of DEC 20th and a POSSESSION DATE of DEC 28th (for example)… as this is a much “safer” transaction than hoping all your deal closes between Christmas and New Years.
Encroachments
- Use GIS Mapping as part of your due diligence to flag for potential encroachments (RDCO GIS). Everyone probably remembers the case of the swimming pool encroachment in the Upper Mission where the court ordered the swimming pool removed (see my blog post here)… In a similar case, I had a meeting today with clients of a great Royal Lepage Realtor that had looked at the GIS mapping of a property and after looking at the City file discovered a large potential encroachment of the neighboring property. The client, a first time home buyer, had a meeting with myself, their Realtor and Andrew Prior (the real estate litigator at the office) to discus the options for proceeding here, including both transactional, negotiated and court option. It was a great team approach to getting these clients to advice they needed.
Getting Pihl Law Corp involved is good risk management.
If your client does not know a real estate lawyer…. I really appreciate talking with these clients EARLY in their real estate journeys, have them call (250-762-5435) or email (peter@mmslawfirm.ca) and I am happy to talk with them personally to get them on the right track…
Our valued referring Realtors always get the inside track here… our firm works to ensure that your clients get connected and get the advice they need to make their real estate decisions.