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.
BCREA also releases videos that help Realtors explain different forms to clients. These video 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:
Let’s get to know more about the Standards Form department with a few questions with BCREA’s Manager of Professional Services, Jennifer Lynch.
- Tell us a little about yourself, your background, and your career at BCREA.
- I was a Managing Broker and Realtor for 25 years, and I was heavily involved in leadership in organized real estate. I also wrote two courses and was an instructor and mentor for the Real Estate Trading Services Applied Practice Course. Also, I have been heavily involved as a SMES on several professional development courses.
- 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. They can also help explain complicated forms to clients. There are also great educational opportunities to understand better the standard forms such as Contract Bootcamp, Contract Foundations, Property Disclosure Statement (to name a few).
- BCREA releases many great standard forms. Are there particular standard forms you recommend new Realtors should stay up to date with?
- Realtors should familiarize themselves with any form they use or anticipate using in a transaction. We try to ensure we provide the tools and resources to help support new Realtors and seasoned professionals.
Our resources are meant to be accessible when Realtors need them most.
To minimize the amount of change, Standard Forms tries to do an annual launch for new forms, clauses, and form revisions. To help keep Realtors up to date with changes:- Guides support Realtors with new forms and form revisions,
- Webinars for Managing Brokers in advance of the form launch and Q&A webinars for Realtors post-launch, and
- Index of Standard Forms resources to help locate various resources.
- Realtors should familiarize themselves with any form they use or anticipate using in a transaction. We try to ensure we provide the tools and resources to help support new Realtors and seasoned professionals.
- Could you tell us a little about toolkits and how they are beneficial for new Realtors?
- Toolkits contain many components to support Realtors. You can find:
- Guides,
- Annotated forms,
- How to’s,
- Professional development opportunities,
- FAQs to help break down and explain complex legal forms,
- Explainer videos for Realtors, plus videos they can share to help explain forms with clients, and
- any relevant information to the specific form.
- Toolkits contain many components to support Realtors. You can find:
- Since your time at BCREA, what’s one project you worked on that you’re most proud of?
- The Standard Forms Resource Centre is the go-to resource for all standard forms, including toolkits on the various forms, blogs, change requests and indexes for resources. You can watch a video overview here.
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