PAUL WALDIE AND JANE GADD
Other

A battle is brewing behind the scenes of Canada’s booming real estate market that could change the way homes are sold in this country and hike fees consumers pay for some real estate agent services.

The dispute centres around the use of the Multiple Listing Service and it pits so-called full-service realtors against discount brokers who operate largely on-line and charge far lower commissions.

Full-service brokers want to tighten the rules governing how agents list homes on MLS. They say the system has been flooded with properties from discount brokers who provide few real estate services and simply list houses on MLS for a fee. They argue that has diluted the effectiveness of MLS and led to inaccurate information for buyers.

Discount brokers counter by saying their rivals are trying to change the rules in order to protect their lucrative commissions, typically 5 per cent of the sale price of a house. The discount agents argue they offer consumers an important choice about how to sell their home.

“The changes [to the MLS] will definitely hinder our business,” said Ian Martin, chief executive officer of Vancouver’s Erealty.ca, which charges a commission of 0.5 per cent on a sale. “But also it’s going to end up costing the consumer, our clients, more money.”

While the debate had raged largely among real estate agents, the Competition Bureau has entered the fray by expressing concern about the proposed changes, saying they could be anti-competitive.

The MLS system has been around for more than 50 years. It started as a way for agents to share information about homes for sale and it has become a key resource for realtors, buyers and sellers. Only real estate agents can list properties on MLS and local real estate boards operate the service in their market.

The debate about changing MLS access started in July when the Canadian Real Estate Association’s board of directors proposed amendments to the rules governing listings. The 86,000-member group, which is dominated by full-service realtors, owns the MLS trademark.

At the time, the board said it was acting to protect the MLS trademark, which it said had become undermined by listings that “did not require sufficient realtor involvement in the transaction.” Under the board’s proposals, agents would have to inspect a home before it could be listed and agree to work with other realtors throughout the sale process, including arranging compensation. The proposals will be voted on by delegates to a special assembly this week in Halifax.

The Competition Bureau has reviewed the proposals and in a letter to the CREA last month, the bureau said it had trouble understanding why they were needed given that the MLS trademark did not appear to be under threat. The bureau added that it has concerns about rules “that serve to exclude entry-only and limited-service listing from MLS or otherwise restrict the ability of consumers to obtain the variety of relationships that they want with a broker.”

Many realtors say the proposed changes were aimed largely at companies such as Realtysellers, which operates mainly in Ontario and specializes in helping people sell their home themselves. For a fee of $695, Realtysellers will list a home for sale on MLS and direct inquiries to the seller. The seller then handles the sale and decides how much of a commission, if any, to pay the buyer’s broker.David Pearce, a former long-time director of the Toronto Real Estate Board (TREB), says putting restrictions on MLS isn’t good for competition. Mr. Pearce, who runs Re/Max Rouge River Realty, doesn’t like flat-fee services that dump properties on to MLS, but he said consumers have a right to decide. “Just because I think it’s a dumb business plan, why should I care?” he said. “Let [other realtors] do it.”

Last month, the directors of the TREB voted to reject the CREA’s proposed changes. In a letter to the association, TREB president Dorothy Mason said the proposals raise serious concerns and require more consultation. Directors of the Greater Montreal Real Estate Board have also asked to have the proposals withdrawn. However, many agents and real estate boards in Western Canada, where the market has been extremely strong, favour the proposed changes.

Bob Linney, a spokesman for the CREA, said the proposals are designed to protect the trademark. “It’s entirely a trademark issue. It is not aimed at any one particular business model,” he said. “Fees are always negotiable.”

As for the Competition Bureau, Mr. Linney said the association has “an ongoing dialogue” with the bureau about a range of issues. It also has a legal opinion that says its proposed changes will not restrict competition.

Mr. Linney added that delegates will have the final say at the meeting in Halifax. “Nothing has been decided and we don’t want to comment until it has been decided.”

 Globe and Mail

More than $200,000. Retired teacher fell prey to pressure from fraud artist

Joey Thompson
Province

Pensioner Francis Loftus was what most people would think of as the proverbial sitting duck.

With family either deceased or out of country, the retired, never-wed school marm still lived in the unassuming Kitsilano bungalow where she was raised.

Far be it for the humble live-alone to doubt an established contractor’s estimate of essential repairs to her only asset besides a teacher’s pension.

But court documents show it wasn’t until work on the simple two-storey, two-bedroom home began that the serious swindling got under way.

Before long, Andrew James Kralik had persuaded the senior to fill in the blanks on at least half a dozen work contracts, citing repairs worth more than $200,000.

The owner of Exterior Home Services convinced the elderly lady the house needed painting, an exterior door should be a window, the porch soffits were toast and the fascia and door sills needed a quick fix. Oh yes, the roof had to be replaced as well as gutters, downspouts, back porch and railings.

Those were the little jobs.

Cracks in the foundations were next. Lead drain lines needed replacing as did the garage doors. The house desperately needed structural upgrading, he said, also a new sump pump, lining in the chimney, chain-link fencing, burglar alarm system and so on.

Loftus signed over her car worth $28,000. With Kralik’s blessing, she also arranged for a reverse mortgage, a loan offered to seniors by the Canadian Home Income Plan Corp.

The accumulation of yellow work orders in Loftus’s drawer was enough to make a homeowner’s head spin. It certainly caused B.C. Consumer Services Branch staff — assigned to look into complaints of possible shifty or unconscionable transactions — to raise their eyebrows.

Enter Graham Chard, government branch investigator, who hired a quantity surveyor and a building contractor to get to the bottom of what work had really occurred at Loftus’s home.

By the time the paperwork was done, Kralik faced criminal trial for fraud, a rare move by investigators, given that police don’t usually get involved in contract breaches and consumer ripoffs. Civil court is their usual venue.

Loftus, 86 years old and frail by now, stood in the witness stand for seven days last year answering lawyers’ questions. The experts also testified: They said much of the $228,000 worth of so-called work written up by the 42-year-old was never done. What had been was worth no more than $40,000 tops.

“Mr. Kralik knowingly engaged in dishonest conduct and was aware that by his conduct he was depriving Ms. Loftus of significant amounts of money,” B.C. Supreme Court Madam Justice Catherine Wedge ruled recently.

“He persuaded Ms. Loftus that her home required extensive repairs when it did not. He convinced her to take a reverse mortgage on her home and then proceeded to divest her of most of the mortgage funds within a three-month period. I find [him] guilty of fraud.”

Renovations are a billion-dollar business. It’s crucial that homeowners read carefully and store safely any contracts they sign. And if there’s nagging doubt about the cost or quality of work performance, get in contact with the Consumer Services Branch of the Attorney-General’s Ministry. Contact information is available on the B.C. government website.

© The Vancouver Province 2006

John Mackie
Sun

If you haven’t been down to see the Woodward’s building lately, you might want to go and pay your last respects. Most of the building has been demolished, save for a few outside walls and the small original 1903 structure at the northwest corner of Abbott and Hastings.

Three-quarters of what’s left is scheduled to come down in a “rollover” implosion at 8 a.m., Sept. 30. After the debris is cleared up, construction work will begin on the new Woodward’s site, which includes three new buildings (nine, 32 and 43 storeys high) and the restored six-storey original building.

Nine excavators and a crew of about 40 are preparing what’s left of Woodward’s for the implosion. The rat-a-tat-tat and boom and clang of giant diggers clawing through cement, brick and steel make the site sound like a war zone, a feeling reinforced by the skeletal remains of the building. Think Berlin after the Second World War, or Beirut after the recent fighting.

Walking through the remains of the old department store is a somewhat disconcerting experience. The middle of the formerly 600,000-sq.-ft. building is completely gone, leaving three facades and a small bit of floor space on Hastings, Cordova and Abbott streets. There are no interior walls, and you are warned not to go to close to the edge, which is open to the elements.

Twisted bits of steel rebar curl out of the floors like spaghetti, some with small chunks of cement still attached. The remaining beams have been tapered at the bottom like pencils, so that they’ll come down easily during the implosion. A two-storey-high hole has been cut in the top of the Hastings Street side, making for easy access for the pigeons that are the building’s main occupants.

Someone has placed a small W on top of an antenna sitting on the roof of the 1903 structure. It echoes Woodward’s famous Big W neon sign, which is now in a warehouse waiting to be refurbished so it can be reinstalled when the new project is complete.

The Eiffel Tower-like structure the Big W sat on, though, is gone. So is the part of the building that the tower sat on. In the interior, the only thing that reminds you that this was once the flagship store for a made-in-B.C. retail empire is an old Woodward’s shopping bag that someone shoved into the ceiling of the first floor.

There doesn’t seem to be any steel or concrete in the 1903 building, which was made out of brick and wood. You can clearly make out the original four-storey structure because the floor joists are completely different from the 1908 addition that brought it up to six storeys.

The part of Woodward’s that is being saved is covered by a big white tarp on the street side. Workers are beginning to strip away layers of paint on the brick, and have discovered some of the signage written on the bricks back in 1903. Parts of this signage may be restored along with the 50,000-sq.-ft. building, which is in a fragile state and will be seismically upgraded with a new steel frame.

The original building is being saved because it has the most heritage value. Project architect Gregory Henriquez said it was added on to 14 times, which made the Woodward’s store much bigger but something of an architectural mishmash. He argues that it is much better to restore the original building and build new on the rest of the site, rather than keep some of the later additions.

“That’s the only building that has any architectural merit at all,” he said.

“[The rest] really wasn’t a significant piece of architecture. [But] it really was the economic catalyst of the neighbourhood, and what we’re doing is replacing it with a 21st-century economic catalyst, a mixed-use project which has people living, working and performing there.”

The new site definitely will be mixed-use. When the project opens in the spring of 2009, it will include retail outlets such as London Drugs, Simon Fraser University’s School for Contemporary Art, civic and federal government offices, community space, a daycare, 200 units of non-market housing, and 536 condos.

The $300-million project will no doubt be an economic catalyst for the long-depressed neighbourhood, which basically went down the tubes after Woodward’s closed in 1993. But it comes at the expense of most of the building that was once the heart of downtown Vancouver.

© The Vancouver Sun 2006

Essential for the elderly to take advice from family, friends, police or experts before starting a project

Peter Simpson
Sun

High on my list of people I despise are those heartless scam artists who prey on elderly homeowners.

Earlier this summer, one such cretin was jailed after bilking an 89-year-old widow of $200,000 for home renovations that were either incomplete or not even started — and all grossly overpriced.

Turns out the guy had a history of preying on trusting elderly women in the Lower Mainland and United States. His take was reportedly more than $1 million. Now he will have a few years to reflect on how his crimes inflicted severe emotional and financial stress on his frail and vulnerable victims.

He likely doesn’t give a damn.

To protect themselves, seniors should seek advice from family, friends, trusted caregivers, police or renovation professionals before considering any home renovation or repair project, or parting with any amount of cash.

An elderly homeowner recently handed over a $3,000 cheque to someone who said he and his crew just finished working on a job in the neighbourhood and, as luck would have it, had on their truck some leftover aluminum gutters, fascia and soffits they could install at a too-good-to-pass-up price.

A short while later, the silver-tongued devil left, cheque in hand. A scant 15 minutes passed when the frazzled woman poured a cup of tea, had a change of heart and called her bank to stop payment on her cheque. Too late, she was told, the cheque had already cleared. Lesson learned — the hard way.

Spending on home renovation and improvement is expected to reach a record $6.1 billion in B.C. this year. It is reasonable to expect unscrupulous people will try to cash in on this burgeoning business. Protect yourself — and loved ones — by doing some homework before agreeing to any work.

Reliable sources of information on the Internet are my organization’s gvhba.org (go to Consumer Resources, then Renovating) and hiringacontractor.com. The Better Business Bureau also offers advice on common scams at bbbvan.org.

If a deal sounds too good to be true, investigate its validity. Caution beats impulse every time.

Still on seniors, I received a letter from Vancouver homeowner Diane B., who expressed concerns that conventional bathtubs are difficult for a person experiencing mobility challenges. Diane wrote that walk-in tubs with seats and grab-bars should be standard fare in all new homes and hotel rooms.

Seniors are a rapidly growing segment of our society, a fact that is not lost on the homebuilding and renovation industries. Slowly but surely, housing design is adapting to the changing market.

Many homes being built or renovated today include features that make it easier for seniors to live more safely and independently. Open floor plans — especially kitchens, dining area and family room — are becoming commonplace. Also popular are main-floor master bedrooms and ensuite bathrooms.

Modifications can be as simple as installing a 2×8 board as part of the framing around a bathtub or shower stall. When required at a later date, a sturdy grab-bar can be attached to this reinforced part of the wall. Also, bright lighting, non-skid flooring and anti-scald showers are worthwhile features.

Lever-action handles on doors are easier to operate than round knobs. A new generation of engineered windows can be opened and closed effortlessly, and positioning light switches and power receptacles so they can be reached from standing or seated positions makes sense. Other mobility-assistance features include wider door openings, low-threshold entries and handrails at all steps.

These modifications can be incorporated seamlessly, invisibly, into the home’s design, so no one needs to know you actually rely on them to some degree. Hey, vanity is not exclusive to the young.

As we move through the phases of our lives, our housing needs change. And, whether we are seniors or parents of young children, we need to pay heed to comfort, convenience and safety in our homes.

Peter Simpson is chief executive officer of the Greater Vancouver Home Builders’ Association.

e-mail: [email protected]

© The Vancouver Sun 2006

 

Sun

To do what Vancouver Sun photographer Ian Lindsay did this week probably would cost you $10,000.

Further, and again probably, you wouldn’t do it with developer Ian Gillespie and the organizer of a his new-home-project sales campaigns, Bob Rennie, at your side.

Visits to the Estates, Fairmont Pacific Rim Vancouver presentation centre in the Shaw Tower are by appointment only — with $10,000 in (refundable) earnest money unlocking an appointment.

With construction of the Estates now under way, we at Westcoast Homes were more eager than ever to show readers what the Westbank and Peterson development groups and Rennie are selling at Estates. And they were keen to show someone from the newsroom around (gratis).

Residency in a home above a hotel on the Vancouver waterfront has a dreamlike quality to it.

Open your oak and leather door, ask the bell hop to leave your shopping on one of the granite countertop and pause to take in Stanley Park and Coal Harbour.

Because housekeeping has tidied up your mess from last night and because room service is bringing up dinner, head straight to your ”rain” shower to unwind and relax.

The Estates offer is a “unique and effortless lifestyle” in a property Rennie champions as ”arguably the finest development site in Canada and possibly in North America.”

Remember these words by Rennie, in the Estates sales literature. (His clients in the development fraternity whose projects he sells will.) ”For me, bringing this project to Vancouver is the highlight of over 30 years of involvement in the real estate community.”

The Estate homes will range in size from 727 square feet to 6,434 square feet; cost between $2.5 million and $12 million; and start on the Estate tower’s 23rd floor and continue through to the 48th, and top, floor.

So far Rennie has sold all the one-level, smaller homes on floors 24 through 31.

With the first floor of homes well above most downtown buildings, Estate residency will mean living with scenes of boats heading in and out of Coal Harbour, bald eagles sweeping over Stanley Park, or the hustle and bustle of electricity pulsing through the urban cityscape below.

“It is simply impossible to imagine a better location anywhere for a five-star waterfront hotel of the Fairmont’s calibre,” said Rennie.

Inside the suites, even the smallest details – from designer faucets or doors to built-in iPod docking stations – display extravagant, but fuctional taste.

Even the worst cooks will enjoy puttering around the massive, open-concept kitchens equipped with Boffi cabinets from Italy, illuminated with built-in lighting. Granite slabs top counters and a full-height backsplash is worthy of late night cooking extravaganzas suitable for the likes of Naked Chef, Jamie Oliver.

A built-in LCD TV descends from a hidden compartment so you can bake cookies in your MasterChef stainless steel oven, following along with your favourite show, or sit down at the floating kitchen island, and stay tuned in while microwaving popcorn. A Kohler sink offsets a Dornbracht Tara Classic pivotable faucet. Close off post-cooking messes from view or cook in the buff, by shutting the sandblasted sliding wall, suspended on tracks.

Pad across marble floors into your Zen sanctuary – a.k.a. the bathroom – to soak in a cast iron tub by Kohler, floating in a marble deck, or stand inside a rain shower by Kohler. Say “ah.”

Polished stone countertops offset a sink accessorized with Dornbracht MEM series, chrome fixtures. A Boffi wood vanity and Kohler undercounter basins keeps cosmetics, towels and clutter hidden neatly away.

Head into your Poliform, Italian designed, walk-in closet and select something to wear from elegantly displayed shelving and integrated rails accentuated by oak drawer fronts. If things do get messy, slide the wood interior doors shut on your way out.

Outside the sumptuous suites, residents can lounge on the upper deck outdoor pool, set against scenic Coal Harbour or sip Manhattans, mingling at a poolside bar.

The glass and concrete, modern design of the exterio stands 457-feet and is coated with a low-E, double-glazed, curtainwall system. It’s also designed for energy efficiency, using a seawater cooling system to minimize energy consumption.

Rennie said in the future the Estates, Fairmont Pacific Rim will be a “postcard image of Vancouver, a city renowned as the most livable place on earth.”

And for the lucky residents living inside the stylish, postcard image, life will be pretty darn “livable” indeed.

© The Vancouver Sun 2006