Meet a Member

Whether you have years of experience or are new to the industry, REIBC is your key to career advancement and connection with the real estate industry. Professional members have achieved the RI designation, which provide employers and clients with instant confirmation of advanced levels of education and experience.

Renee Van Campen, RI

Renee started her real estate career in 1989 working for what was then BC Buildings Corporation (now Real Property Division of Ministry of Citizens’ Services). She worked there for 13 years starting in Property Management, moving to the Marketing Department, followed by Space Planning and finally Portfolio Management. Renee is currently working in Capital Planning and Leasing for Island Health. She continues to work in this sector as she has always loved working in the real estate field. Working for Island Health over the past couple of years during this pandemic has afforded her opportunities to help, like at no other point during her career. It has been extremely challenging, and immensely rewarding at the same time.

During her free time, Renee enjoys staying active, travelling and spending time with her family. She also engages in a range of volunteer activities including: regular hospital visits for the First Open Heart Society, as well as serving on several committees that advocate for women’s heart health. A “fun fact” about Renee: she is one of only three Canadians to have been selected to participate in the Mayo Clinic’s WomenHeart Science & Leadership Symposium.

Welcome to REIBC Renee!

Merrick Sandhu – Nominee Member

Merrick started his real estate career in residential real estate a bit over 8 years ago. He has mainly focused on residential real estate sales but he does have experience dealing with development and commercial leases. He is a licensed with Royal LePage – Wolstencroft in Langley who is part of the Fraser Valley Real Estate Board. And doing all of this, he is currently attending BCIT to obtain his Advanced Diploma in Professional Real Estate. Merrick enjoys working in residential real estate sales as he likes helping individuals with the whole purchasing and sales process of some of the biggest transactions of their lives. He also enjoys his career choice because every day in this career it is different and the new challenges and obstacles that arise require him to grow and learn. He is attending BCIT to increase his skillset and gain more knowledge and understanding of the other sectors and aspects related to his career. Merrick would like to get his RI designation and be an RI so he can continue learning from other industry professionals and be connected to the other RIs with different knowledge and experience levels. When not working he and his wife enjoy traveling and exploring new destinations and trying different food from all over.

Welcome Merrick!

Board News

As July 1st arrived we welcomed a new Board of Governors. REIBC welcomes Keith MacLean-Talbot as our new President, Cindy Nesselbeck as President-Elect, Geoff Radtke as Secretary Treasurer and Susan Antoniali as its Past President. Also on the board of governors are the following professional members of the Institute that let their name stand to guide REIBC in the future: Jon Burbee, Umesh Chand, Rob Green, Tina Lee, Sean McGinnis, Mona Murray, Clayton Olson and Edwin Yan.

We also say good bye to Daniel John who spent 8 years on our board and has moved on to the Board of the Greater Vancouver Real Estate Board. Daniel will be their President in 2022.

At the end of the June we were able to meet up (due to vaccines) and as we could not have our regular event, we did present our outgoing members with their gifts. Daniel John received his gold ring & portfolio and Susan Antoniali received her pen and photos of the board’s she chaired over the last 2 years. Thank you to Daniel and Susan for their dedicated service to the Institute.

Incoming President Keith MacLean-Talbot presents Susan Antoniali with the photos of the boards she chaired over the last 2 years and her pen.

President Susan Antoniali presents Daniel John with this ring, portfolio and his certificate of recognition.

Member News

Dr. Mandy Hansen, RI receives her Doctorate

Past President Mandy Hansen started her doctoral journey four long years and countless hours ago, and has completed her journey earning a Doctorate in Social Sciences from Royal Roads University.  It was an amazing experience, and she learned so much throughout the program.  Her research asked what role informal housing had in resort communities.  Her work centred in Mazatlán, Mexico, and she spent many months down there speaking to people and touring various neighbourhoods to understand how informal settlements are created, and how they become integrated into fabric of the community.   It was a fascinating experience.

Here’s a little of what she learned and what she sees moving forward.

In Mexico, informal settlements look like tarp and pallet structures expanding up hillsides or squished between gated communities.  We also call them slums or favellas, depending on the context. She learned a lot. She was surprised how well organized the informal settlement process was, and how involved the city of Mazatlán was in the planning, servicing, and eventual titling of the lands.  She was also able to use GIS analysis to assess land sizes and densities as they relate to ongoing affordability.  Land parcels are very small; 1,500 square feet on average, and there is no wasted space.  Regulation is also minimal, which allows the market to provide a range of offerings wide enough to meet the varying demands, from single rooms to large mansions.

She picked this topic as she has seen our own informal settlements expand.  They look different than in Mexico.  Ours are tent cities, overcrowded basement suites, or rusty vans parked along side streets, but they are all forms of self-help housing nonetheless.  We need to look at our regulations, processes, and priorities to determine whether widespread informal settlements are what we truly want.  And if not, what are we willing to do about it.  At a certain point, the aesthetics of urban design and the sanctity of public process will fail in the face of human need.

Congratulations Mandy on this achievement!

REIBC Grapevine

DID YOU KNOW - REIBC WEBSITE

You may have logged into your REIBC account in the past to pay your dues or register for events, but did you know that you can also update your personal information when needed?

Upon logging into your account, you will notice a menu on the right-hand side of the page. There, you will find a number of valuable links you can navigate through. When you click on “My Profile” you will be led to a page with your personal and contact information. You will be given an option to update your profile, photo, or address. This is an easy way to ensure that the Institute and fellow members have up-to-date information about you! To ensure you continue to receive future Institute communications, in particular, it is essential that you have a billing address listed. You can do so by adding a new address card or updating the existing one.

If you would like to check up on your invoices and past statements, you can do so by clicking on “My Account” on the right-hand menu. There, you will find dates of payments, amounts paid, as well as access to past receipts. This is a handy page if you have lost track of your dues and payments or would like a complete record of your past payments.

You may also find value in our site when seeking employment. When you log in, you will see a “Are you seeking employment?” link. By clicking on it, you will be led to a page which allows you to fill out some information about the type of position you’re looking for and a brief overview of your past professional experiences. This information will be posted in the Seeking Employment section of our website and will be seen by prospective employers looking to hire designated, educated, experienced and connected professionals. There is also a “Careers Posting” page, in which you will find job postings for relevant work opportunities within the industry. Notable employers who have posted on the REIBC site in the past include BC Hydro, BC Housing, Translink, FortisBC and various municipalities across BC.

In addition, you also have access to the “Find a Member” feature, which enables you to easily connect with fellow members. This is useful for those looking for other professionals to network and collaborate with. You can easily search through members by entering a city, a sector, an occupation, and/or a company. If you’re looking for a particular member, you can also simply enter their last name and you will find their contact information.

Our site is an incredible resource for our members as it keeps them connected with fellow real estate professionals. You can make the most of your REIBC membership by keeping your information up-to-date. You don’t want to miss out on any opportunities.

July 15, 2021

Building Housing Knowledge – What You Need to Know About the Factors Impacting Housing Demand in Non-Metropolitan BC

This webinar was presented to us my Marleen Morris, the Co-Director of the Community Development Institute and an Adjunct Professor of Geography at the University of Northern British Columbia in Prince George as well as Julia Good, BA, MA a Research Associate with the Community Development Institute. The information was very interesting as they talked about what was happening with housing outside of the cities of BC and into the smaller communities. We don’t know if we were surprised to learn that housing is an issue all across BC not just in the cities. A great webinar and thank you to CDI and Marleen and Julia for presenting for us.

Marleen Morris

Julia Good

New REIBC Website

Within the next month we should have our new website up and running. It will have a new look and more functionality and we are pleased to have worked on this to make it an easier site for you to navigate. Watch your inboxes for information regarding the new site.

SURVEYS

You may have noticed that over the last few months you have received a couple of surveys. We are surveying our members so that we can continue to provide you with value and to ensure we are meeting your needs. In September you will receive another survey to answer few questions that the Board has so we can plan appropriately moving forward. We keep them short and quick so they can be done in less than five minutes, not taking away a lot of time from your day. We value your responses and we are pleased to have a response rate of about 34% on these surveys. Thank you for taking time to complete.

Events Update

With the vaccination program well under way in BC and restrictions starting to be lifted REIBC has been asked when we will continue with in-person events. It has been decided that the first in person event REIBC will hold in 2021 will be the Presidents’ Luncheon scheduled for December 9, 2021. We will send more information when we have it.

Further discussions will be held as we work on in-person events for 2022 and beyond.

REIBC Events

August 5, 2021
Market Overview – Paul Richter, RI CoStar
Register here

August 26, 2021
BC Transit presents their Model & Planning Approach
Register here

Save the Dates
September 9, 2021- 12:00 noon – 1:00 p.m.
Carla Guerrara - Purpose Driven Development

September 30, 2021 12:00 noon – 1:00 p.m.
Social Purpose Real Estate
Research Findings from 2020/2021

Career Postings

Property Representative 1 - BC Hydro

Property Representative 2 - BC Hydro

Site Acquisition Specialist - Telecommunications - Synergy Land Services Ltd.

Director, Properties - Metro Vancouver

Investments, Manager (Portfolio Management) - Concert Properties Ltd.

Chief Executive Officer - Montrose Property Holdings Ltd.

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