Get to Know BCREA Standard Forms: The Backbone of Real Estate Transactions

As a new REALTOR^®, knowing which forms to use for a transaction may seem daunting at first. To ensure Realtor success and confidence, BCREA collaborated with the province’s ten real estate boards, lawyers, and other industry experts to draft and update standard forms for Realtors in BC. These forms are the backbone of real estate transactions.

The BCREA Standard Forms department is one of the leading resources for Realtors in British Columbia when it comes to the use and understanding of standard forms. Our forms are accurate, feature the latest information, and are copyrighted and not available for public or third-party access or use.

Check out this video to get an overview of BCREA Standard Forms:

BCREA also releases videos that help Realtors explain different forms to clients. These videos series help ensure that clients are comfortable with the document before signing.

Here’s a list of standard forms resources, from videos guides, toolkits and more:

• BCREA Standard Forms: Stay in the know with the latest blog posts, news, updates and more.
• BCREA Standard Forms Videos: Tutorial and explainer videos for Realtors and consumer-focused videos that help explain forms to clients.
• BCREA Standard Form Resource Centre (SFRC): Find training materials and resources. (BCREA Access login required)

1. Tell us a little about yourself, your background, and your career at BCREA.
   • Before joining BCREA, I was a managing broker and Realtor for 25 years, and I was heavily involved in leadership in organized real estate. I had the opportunity to be heavily involved as a subject matter expert on several professional development courses a wrote courses on the Property Disclosure Statement and Multiple Offers. My interest in education led me to become an instructor and mentor for the Real Estate Trading Services Applied Practice Course. In my various roles, I found my passion in working to support Realtors and managing brokers, and I joined BCREA in early 2020 to provide practice experience across BCREA’s different departments, including Standard Forms.
2. Why do you think it’s essential for new real estate professionals to understand standard forms?
   • Standard forms are used in business every day and are the core of real estate transactions. As real estate transactions are complex and the forms are legal in nature, it can take time to develop a good understanding of the standard terms of the forms and be able to explain them to clients. There are great resources that have been developed, such as Realtor and consumer videos, to help build an understanding. There are also a wide variety of professional development opportunities to build foundational knowledge, such as Contract Bootcamp, Contract Foundations, Property Disclosure Statement, just to name a few.
3. BCREA releases many great standard forms. Are there particular standard forms you recommend new Realtors should stay up to date with?
   • It’s important for Realtors to familiarize themselves with any form they use or anticipate using in a transaction. We try to provide the right tools and best resources to help support new Realtors and seasoned professionals. 
     The resources created by Standard Forms are meant to be accessible when Realtors need them most.
     In recognizing that Realtors are caught in a constant state of change, in order to better support Realtors, we try to do an annual launch for new forms, clauses, and form revisions. Along with the annual launch of the forms, we create resource materials such as:
     • guides on the new forms and form revisions, to help Realtors understand what and why changes are made,
     • webinars for Managing Brokers in advance of the form launch to help ensure they are informed in advance so that they can support their Realtors,
     • forms pre-launch package for Realtors and managing brokers to see the forms and form guidance in advance of the release,
     • and Q&A webinars for Realtors post-launch.
4. Could you tell us a little about toolkits and how they are beneficial for new Realtors?
   • Standard Forms toolkits are a great place to find information about certain forms, and they can be found on the Standard Forms Resource Centre. Toolkits are accessible through REALTORLink® and contain many components to support Realtors such as:
     • videos for Realtors, in addition to consumer videos, Realtors can share with their clients to help explain forms,
     • annotated forms to break down what the standard terms in the contract mean,
     • form explainers or how to complete the forms,
     • FAQs to help break down and explain forms, and
     • professional development opportunities related to the forms.
5. Since your time at BCREA, what’s one project-specific to Standard Forms, you worked on that you’re most proud of?
   • During my time at BCREA, the Standard Forms Resource Centre has been a huge accomplishment! It was a team effort across the association to create a go-to resource for all standard forms, including toolkits on the various forms, blogs, change requests and indexes for resources. There’s also a video that explains more about it here.

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