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• Homes and Sustainable Development

Canada’s Federal Department
The phrase “sustainable development” means different things to different people and organizations. At the federal level in Canada Environment and Climate Change Canada has the lead on sustainable development .Their website displays their overriding goal of meeting the needs of today without comprising the needs of future generations.
 
Sustainable Development Defined
From a purely literal perspective, sustainable means to be maintained a certain rate or level. Similarly, the word development means the act of creating or growing something over time. The goal of this department seems to contradict the literal meaning of this phrase. For development (creation and growth) to be sustainable (maintained) one has to wonder why their aim is not something like meeting the needs of today and tomorrow while being a good and responsible steward over the resources on which we depend.
 
Stewardship
Stewardship is defined as an ethic that embodies the responsible planning and management of resources. It should be considered an obligation for which something is entrusted to our care. This involves a trust that we will do the right thing for the right reasons. Being good stewards means having the authority, taking responsibility for, and being accountable for the things that are entrusted to us.
 
Basic Needs
We live in a world that provides us the means to live. Our most basic needs include having water, food and shelter. These fundamental needs have not changed for millennia. As our societies developed over time transportation became a more basic need. To thrive we also need to be safe, secure and healthy. We depend on our climate, our environment and our water for many, if not all of our most fundamental needs. As individuals we have many responsibilities for our own health but we also depend on others for some aspects of our health as well as elements of our safety and security. These social, environmental and economic responsibilities and dependencies are complex in the world of today and they will become no less so in the world of tomorrow.
 
Homes and Shelter
As communities in BC continue to grow the demand for new homes and other forms of shelter increases and so does the demand for the resources with which they are made. This is one area where social, economic and environmental priorities can collide. The International Institute for Sustainable Development is an independent non-profit organization that aims to provide practical solutions to these types of challenges.
Building homes is an economic activity that requires many different types of resource and maintaining and sustaining the home and the communities within which they are built and located requires additional ones.
 
Resource Demands
There are generally always new homes for sale in the Comox Valley that often require many different forms of materials made from the natural resources our world provides us. For us to continue to build homes at an increasing level to meet increasing demands our resources have to be more than sustainable. They need to grow or we need to find alternative means and methods to support the growth.
 
Take wood, for example. It is not good enough to protect the forests that we have. They need to be nurtured and developed and grow and be re-grown at a rate that meets or exceeds our demand for the raw resources. Other resources such as the fuel and electricity used in the construction process also need to be treated the same way. We must be good stewards over our resources so that they are not depleted. Our water and climate also is extremely important. We depend on them for our most basic needs as well as many needs generated by our contemporary and modern societies. Societal and economic needs are generated by us, the people who inhabit this planet. We, those same people, have responsibilities to be good and effective stewards over the resources that our planet provides us such as a livable climate, water we can drink, food we can grow, shelter we can build, etc. We cannot afford to ignore these responsibilities. How we embrace and discharge them is also important.
 
Bureaucracies
Within Canada and within most developed countries we have adopted different forms of bureaucracies to help deal with the complex issues discussed above. Federal, provincial, and municipal governments were created to help us be good stewards of our resources and to help us with our basic and other needs. It is important for different levels to work together towards common goals that are in all of our best interests. Where this process often breaks down is when there is lack of cooperation or lack of consensus on the goals themselves and/or the priorities afforded to them. Some things are simply more important than other things if we are to live healthy, safe and secure lives. Yes safety and security are different. Think of security as the overarching umbrella (processes, methods and safeguards) used to ensure our public and personal safety (physical and emotional).
 
The most fundamental needs should be afforded the highest priorities but this is not always the case. Small fiefdoms within bureaucracies can and do exist and they can and do derail valid initiatives. Greed, power and personal agendas can and do sometimes rear their ugly heads. As well, rules and regulations can and sometimes are written with the best intentions but they can result in unintended consequences. Moreover, blanket solutions to unique problems can cause more problems than they resolve. All too often rules and regulations are added to “help” us but all too many merely burden us. Take, for example, setbacks established by the provincial government for Riparian areas. Yes we need to protect those resource but more importantly we need to grow them and be good stewards of them. A 30 metre setback applies to watercourses across the board on all areas of the province is easy to write into a regulation but is it the most effective method to help us be good stewards? In some situations 30 metres may be way too much and in others not nearly enough. In yet others it may be the wrong approach entirely. When solutions are proposed they need to address identified problems and not create more problems than they solve.
 
Local Experts and Local Needs
Local experts and residents are often best placed and positioned to address local problems. Why? Because they will be most affected and have the most to gain or lose. While higher level bureaucracies may be called in to assist they should assist with the provision of the requisite resources. Local experts sometimes are found in local municipal bureaucracies but many are found within the local community. Local bureaucrats all too often forget that they are there to serve the needs of the public and not to dictate to them. The public and not the bureaucracy should agree on the problem and the solution. All too often local bureaucrats and politicians get too involved in the decision making process related to problems and solutions. This is an area where the USA has it right. The people decide on whether or not major initiatives go forward or not.
 
For example, if a community enters into water restrictions nearly every summer because of a water supply problem, the source of the problem needs to be found and addressed. Let’s say that a community draws its water from a nearby lake and that the lake is very deep yet the draw from it is shallow. The most logical solution is to install a deep water access and draw and to put measures in place to monitor changes to the depth of the lake on an ongoing basis and to also understand how and from where the lake is replenished and to assist in this process if mother nature cannot do it on her own. Trying to address shortages (quantity) with things like new filtration plants (quality) just makes no sense yet this very issue is being discussed in this way at the time of the writing of this blog.
 
Public Consultation
The public consultation process in Canada is often broken. Too many times elected officials and bureaucrats take it upon themselves to involve the public on issues that affect people only after solutions are being proposed. The first step should be agreement on the problem. The second step should be an analysis of the problem and potential solutions. People should decide on the course of action to be followed and then when the economic implications are known vote on its implementation. Does this occur in your local area? Is there a reason why so few people from the public get involved in the First, Second and Third Reading process? Do your local officials actually listen to and act on the voice of the people?
 
Summary
Yes sustainable development is a very complex issue but the fundamental tenant is fairly simple. The care of our planet is entrusted to us and we depend on it for our livelihood. Sustainable development should aim to meet the needs of today and tomorrow while ensuring good, effective and responsible stewardship over our climate, environment and the natural resources on which we depend to live and thrive. Building homes and communities is a small piece of this process.

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• Is Customer Service Dead?

Is customer service dead? Before answering this question, let’s look at the question. First, it has two parts – customer and service.

What is a customer? Most definitions tell us that a customer is someone that buys goods and services from a business. Goods and services are produced from outcome of human effort to meet the wants and needs of other people. In other words, goods and services are products that people provide to other people. So, customers buy products (goods and services) from other people.

What is a service? Services are distinct from goods. Goods are tangible products that are produced and provided to other people. We can touch goods. Services are intangible products that involve the action of helping or doing work for someone. We all benefit from services but we cannot actually touch them. Nearly 70% of Canadians are employed in the service industry so services must be important.

The word customer is often used interchangeably with client. Do these two nouns really mean the same thing or is there a difference between the two? Some argue that a customer buys goods or services from a business while a client engages the services of a professional. According to these distinctions, services are provided to both customers and clients. As a professional with more than 40 years of education, training and experience I agree that there is a difference between a customer and a client but that these just mentioned general distinctions do not go far enough.

Here is what I have learned over a lifetime of education, training, and experience:
1. A customer buys goods and services. The person who provides the goods and services is trying to sell something to the customer. The goods and services provider has an economic focus; and
2. A client engages the services of a professional but the person who provides the services represents the client and/or the interests of the client. The service provider has (or should have) a people focus they act (or should act) in the best interests of that person when providing them with services such as information and advice.

All goods and services providers must make money to stay in business. What differs, however, between those that deal with customers and those that deal with clients is (or at least should be) the priority placed on the economic element of the respective businesses.

So, a service provider – customer relationship is economically focused and a service provider – client relationship is people focused. Customer satisfaction is important because a returning customer means more sales to the goods and services provider. Client satisfaction does have an economic payoff as well but the main motivation on the part of the service provider should be doing what is best for the client to meet their needs and wants. The economic element should be secondary.

Now let’s turn back to the original question. Is customer service dead? One might think so based on some of the following experiences:
1. A person purchases a new cell phone from a kiosk in a department store and is told of the one-year warranty on the phone by the sales person. The customer buys the phone and a couple of weeks later brings the phone back having experienced nothing but problems with it. The customer is then told of the fine print that the kiosk is only responsible for the dealing with the phone for the first 14 days of the contract after which the customer must deal directly with the manufacturer to have it fixed;
2. A person books a hotel online for a date that is several months away. According to the online booking the room is fully refundable but that they must enter their credit card info at the time of booking. Once the book now button is pressed they are told that their credit card was just charged for the full amount of the room. They immediately cancel the room but are informed that the refund will not get applied back to their account for a couple of weeks;
3. A person books a flight to a sunny destination. Once on board the flight they are told that there is a shortage of food and beverage and they are not provided anything to eat but a few snacks and the beverage service is limited. The seats are fitted so close together that there is no room to move. The flight attendants spend most of their time reading magazines at the front and back of the plane and when asked for service tell customers that the priority of their job is the safety of passengers and that they are not stewardesses;
4. A person calls an insurance company merely to confirm receipt of a fax sent to that company at the request of a “customer service” representative”. They send the fax and call to confirm receipt of the fax and are told by the representative that they have no way of checking because the fax machine is in another building and that they have no phone number for that building. However, if it is received they should see something on the file in a few days;
5. A person calls a phone/internet/TV service provider and after being asked by a computer to answer many questions is placed in line to speak to a real person. 40 minutes later they hang up in frustration; and;
6. A person enters an automotive parts store on a weekend and asks about a specific part. The sales person does not know how to look up the part and tells the customer that they do not have any more time to keep looking for it and to come back during the week when a more experienced person will be in the store to help them.

Each of the previous examples are real life examples of poor customer service. Undoubtedly the reader could come up with many more of their own. Remember when the slogan The Customer is Always Right was popular? How many times have you experienced just the opposite over your lifetime?

All customers should expect great customer service from people who are trying to sell them something like a home. All clients should expect great service and that their needs and best interests will be the top priority of the professional providing them with service. Perhaps all service providers should adhere to the following basic, but powerful slogan: Service First. People Always. Would not the world be a much better place if they did?

Choosing a realtor is a personal and important decision. Aim high for peace of mind. Contact Brett to represent you when you buy or sell your next Comox Valley home.

Lookie Loos Need Not Apply

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• Lookie Loos Need Not Apply

The term Lookie Loo (also Looky Loo, Looky Lou, and Lookie Lou) was coined many years ago to describe people who love to look at real estate without any intention of buying it. This expression has the same meaning as tire kicker and window-shopper.

There is, of course, nothing wrong with browsing or looking at something for one’s own enjoyment. What is wrong is giving someone else an impression, either directly or indirectly, that you are a serious buyer when you are merely browsing. Why is that?

Professional Services Cost Money

In real estate, whenever you ask a real estate agent to provide you with a professional service such as showing you some of the best homes for sale in Comox or showing you the local area, it begins to cost them time and money. The vast majority of real estate agents are only paid for their services when they complete a home purchase or sale for their clients. Until they are paid, it costs them their own time and money each and every day to stay in business (their fixed business costs) and to provide people with real estate services (their variable business costs). Like many different types of small businesses, these business costs can easily run into thousands of dollars each and every month.

Serious or Not

People who are serious buyers rely on real estate agents for a wide spectrum of real estate services. Agents who are competent and proficient can provide great service to people and in turn help them reduce the stresses associated with buying a home. They can also save home buyers time and money. When someone who is not a serious buyer engages a real estate agents and occupies their time, there is a cost to the agent and to the other people who really do need the services. Great agents are appreciated by serious buyers. People who are not serious buyers can still get the enjoyment of looking at homes by attending open houses and show homes.

Cost to the Seller

Besides the adverse impact on the real estate agent and their buyers, think about the cost to the person who is allowing their private residence to be shown to people who have no intention of buying it. People who are proud of their homes will take time to clean and prepare it for showings. Most sellers do not want people coming through their private abode who are not serious buyers. If your home was for sale would you want people coming through your private residence without having any real intention of buying it?

Be Forthright

Most people do not like other people wasting their time. They especially do not like other people costing them money if there is no money to be made in return for services provided. Please think twice before asking a real estate agent to show you an area or homes because “you are thinking of moving there”. Be forthright with your intentions. If you are not serious say so. Good real estate agents will still be able to help you in ways that do not cost them much time and money. When you become serious you will be glad that you have a competent realtor willing to help you buy or sell your next home, and in doing so, saving you time, stress and money.

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• My Home is my Castle but how much Real Estate do I own

The purchase of homes and land can be more complicated than people realize if not done properly. Real estate, also called real property, generally consists of the land and whatever is growing on it, affixed to it and built on it. In the eyes of the law, personal property is everything else, which, by the way includes mobile homes that are not affixed to the land.

I own my land so I can do what I want with it. The preceding statement is a fairly commonly held belief that is not true. When we buy real estate we buy rights to the use of the land but the real “owner” in Canada is the Crown – meaning the federal and provincial governments. This is why the government has fundamental rights such as expropriation, tax sales, and the right to determine land use through zoning and to establish regulation of construction on land through building codes.

The purchase of land in British Columbia involves the transfer of money from the buyer to the seller and the transfer of title to the land from the seller to the buyer. The title will contain identification information related to the land such as a unique nine digit Property Identification Number (PID) and a legal description. It will also contain ownership information that is expressed as an interest in the land that gives us rights to the land. For example, a Fee Simple (or Freehold) Interest in the land is the largest group of rights we can have over our land. This is called Registered Owner in Fee Simple on the title.

These land rights can be held by one person or two or more people as Joint Tenants or Tenants in Common. As well as stipulating the type of ownership interest in land, the title can have legal interests or encumbrancers on it as well such as mortgages, rights of way, easements, covenants, judgements, leases and builders liens. These common charges on a title can affect and restrict the way we use our land and some legal annotations can prevent transfer of the title. For these reasons, it is important to do a title search when considering the purchase of a home or land.

While we have rights to the land we buy, other rights such as the airspace above, surface water and subsurface rights are generally limited and regulated. Zoning regulations for the property also affects what we can do with the real estate we buy. There are also many other things that have the potential to affect our use of the land. When you are planning to make your next Comox Valley home purchase from those listed contact Brett Cairns of REMAX Ocean Pacific Realty to be your buyer’s agent so that you can have peace of mind when you buy.

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• Real Estate Contract Considerations

After months of looking for that perfect home you think that you have located it among the various types of Comox homes currently for sale at market prices/a>. Now what? The next step is to prepare an offer. But what kinds of things should be considered in an offer? The answer is not always straight forward.

Price is typically first and foremost in most people’s minds. The offering price is a very important element of the offer and it will often be (or should be) influenced by the type of real estate market that exists at the time. Is it a buyers’ market or sellers’ market? Is the market neutral? Will you be competing in a multiple offer situation? All of these inputs and several others play a role in the offering price.

The deposit is another consideration. Many markets have a normal benchmark that is applied to deposits. Do you know what is typical for your market? Do you know whether or not deposits are legally required in a real estate contract?

Most contracts also have terms and conditions. Think of a term as a promise that forms part of the contract. For example the agreed purchase price is a term that the buyer promises to pay and that the seller promises to accept. Terms can be either essential or subsidiary. Conditions are often referred to as subject clauses but the word condition may also refer to an essential term in a contract. Subject clauses are easily spotted by words such as “Subject to the Buyer on or before ….” This type of condition is a condition precedent because it describes a condition that must occur before a party is liable to perform his or her principle obligations under the contract. While some people do write subject free offers the practice is not common in smaller markets such as the Comox Valley.

Fairly common condition precedents include those related to a title search, approval of a Property Disclosure Statement, and Financing. There are, of course, many more that could be applicable to the specific home or property of interest. Condition precedents will have dates established as the specific time within which the condition must be removed from the contract of purchase and sale. Sometimes, however, it is not sufficient to merely provide a date by which the condition precedent must be satisfied. For example, a time clause is often added to a condition precedent that makes the purchaser’s obligations subject to the purchaser being able to sell property owned by the purchaser. There are many other types of conditions precedent (commonly referred to as “Subjects”) that can apply to certain types of properties.
Dates in an offer can also be very important. The completion, possession and adjustments dates need to be specified and agreed by both parties to the contract. Other things such as included and excluded items also need to be agreed.

Offers prepared by real estate agents in the province of BC will contain a number of standard terms and conditions that have passed the scrutiny of legal review. In addition to those standard ones, agents need to examine each offer on a case-by-case basis and add the additional ones that are applicable to the specific home and property. Offers will also have a time and date specified until which the offer is open for acceptance.

This short discussion of contracts just scratches the surface of the topic. The requirements of real estate contracts can and do change. A recent change to the ones copyrighted by the BC Real Estate Association and Canadian Bar Association (BC Branch) included a restriction on assignment of contract. Knowing what should be in a contract is important to the buyer and to the seller. A competent real estate agent can help you ensure that the offer you make contains what is needed.

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• Homes for Sale | Show me Now

It is not uncommon for some people to call, text or email a realtor on a moment’s notice and expect to view value priced homes for sale in Comox right away or on very short notice. There are several problems with this approach. First, unless you are already a client of theirs they likely do not know who you are or whether or not you are already working with a local realtor. Second, they are required by law to explain some things to you before showing you the home. Third, they are required by their code of ethics to respect the relationship you may already have with another realtor. Fourth, they are likely busy providing services to current clients and they need time to take you on as a client and then they need to fit you into their schedule so they can provide you with services.

British Columbia law places a number of obligations on real estate agents in the province related to the provision of real estate services to other people. Among them is the requirement for the agent to to disclose the nature of the representation that they will provide to that person before providing them with any professional services, such as the showing of a home. This is often best done through a face-to-face meeting with the person.

Real estate agents provide professional services to both home buyers and sellers. For people in British Columbia to receive the highest level of representation it is important for them to be represented by the real estate agent under Designated Agency. To accept something less like Limited Dual Agency or a Customer relationship is not in the best interests of the person who wants and needs the best advice that a particular agent can give them.

Sellers become clients of a real estate agent through the contract that they sign when they list their home. The listing agent is working for the seller under Designated Agency and that agent should have the seller’s best interests at heart. For a seller to subsequently be asked by their agent to accept a reduction in the level of their professional relationship to Limited Dual Agency means that that agent is asking to represent both the seller and the buyer in the same contractual relationship. Does anyone think that this is a good idea?

Home buyers who need the services of a real estate agent should become a client of the real estate agent through Designated Agency. As with a seller, buyers could be asked by an agent to accept a lessor professional relationship such as Limited Dual Agency or a Customer relationship. If your agent were to do this, would you not want to know why they were making the request?

Like most other service-based professionals, real estate agents often work for many different clients at the same time. Most will do their best to fit you into their busy schedule but they do need notice to do so and almost all will give priority to current clients before taking on new clients. If you are looking for a realtor who will go Above and Beyond to help you buy or sell a home contact Brett for an appointment to become a client under Designated Agency.