“Your cheque is in the mail.” “Do you have a minute?” “I’m almost there.” 

These phrases have come to mean more than just the words themselves. Say them and you’ll get a figurative eyeroll. 

Would you rely on someone’s assurance that their cheque really is on its way to you? Probably not, especially if you need the money to pay a bill. It’s handy that the irrevocability of e-transfers harnessing the auto-deposit feature has helped in that department. 

Then there’s “Do you have a minute”—that question colleagues and clients ask, usually with their head poked around your office door. Or now, via text. It’s a simple request that’s often loaded. When I was a broker, I used to dread those words. They almost always led to one of my REALTORS® telling me they’d transferred their licence to another brokerage. I’m still scarred. I wonder how many times a person hearing those words thinks, “No, I don’t have a minute and I doubt you’ll take only a minute to tell me your story, which is probably about as long as War and Peace.

Topping off the list is the “I’m almost there” text. You can’t use the phone for that sort of message. It would lead to too many probing questions, such as, “How do you define ‘almost’?” “Are you on the Iron Workers Memorial Bridge at 1:45 p.m., heading to a 2 p.m. showing in Squamish?” Text is better for that kind of message, including, apparently, “Maybe we should cool it for a while.” Usually followed by the “It’s not you; it’s me,” conversation.

You know what all those phrases say to me and, maybe, to you? They’re said to fill the air with words. They probably don’t say what someone actually means, but they’re handy if we’re trying to spare someone’s feelings. They’re useful if we want to hide behind them, like politicians do. They’re handy if we don’t really care enough about someone to actually tell them the truth. 

That’s important to remember, because we’re in the truth business. Everyone desperately wants honesty today, more than ever. When we communicate clearly and honestly, with a minimum of fuss, it’s like a breath of fresh air even when the news isn’t good. It’s always better to give bad news sooner than later. And you can help matters by giving someone a side order of reasonable options to go along with your bad news. 

In summary, everyone likes it better when you tell it like it is, even though we sometimes have to steel ourselves to do this. Make your words match what you actually mean. It’s what transparent professionals do.

Photographs are wonderful. They do, indeed, tell a story a thousand words couldn’t describe. Professionals who take photographs for our websites and MLS® system don’t usually sell their work. They typically give you a licence to use their photographs—their intellectual property—for a certain time period. That licence isn’t usually transferable (to other members, for example). It’s up to the photographer though, not the Board, to pursue their rights. 

Things get interesting when we consider what the Rules of Cooperation have to say about photographs. Similar to what Facebook, Instagram and WeChat do with content posted on their platforms, our Rule 3.25 says:

Rule 3.12 says:

And the REALTOR® Code says:

Whew, this is a messy stew of conflicting rights. Don’t post pictures on the MLS® system if you don’t own or have the licence to use them or if the Rules (R. 3.25) don’t allow it. And, respect fellow professionals, like photographers, by offering to pay them for their photographs, even if the Board rules say it now owns them.

• Rules of Cooperation
• REALTOR® Code