The Power of the Vote



As we head into municipal elections across the province an important vote, one that will impact how people buy and sell homes, took place yesterday in St John's NL.

Nearly 100 of the real estate boards from across Canada voted to ratify the agreement between CREA and the Competition Bureau. Now as many have pointed out this vote hasn't really changed anything as far as rules go. What it has done is given plain language to the boards on what they can and cannot do in regards to "mere listings". Here is a quote from the media release:
The Commissioner and CREA have agreed that its rules as well as those of its members should not deny or discriminate against REALTORS® wishing to offer mere posting services. CREA does not believe that such rules exist today, but if they do, they must be repealed or Boards will lose their license to operate under the MLS® trademarks.
Now just to clarify this does not mean that John Q. Public can just upload their home for sale on www.realtor.ca. The system is still a closed, member to member system, as it should be. What it opens up is the ability for brokers to offer flat fee listings to people that just want to post a home for sale. This maintains that someone be held responsible for the information being entered into their system.

You may be asking yourself "If the realtors are going to make less money on listing homes for sale and private sellers won't offer the "standard" 2.5% commission how will the realtors pay for their Cadillacs?"


"we have ways of going around that" these guys are too much. Their sense of entitlement for your money is overwhelming. "Buyer Beware" takes on a whole new meaning.

M

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Thanks for taking the time to read and comment!

Aaron Hall said...

Hi Mike, thanks for taking the time to watch my video. I have comments about some details you are mentioning here. The “standard” commission is not standard here in BC, and certainly nowhere near 2.5% our prices are much higher here so we work with much lower percentages. In BC we have a large range in commission structures and have had them for many years. The point of the video was to show people living in our market that we already have many agents who offer alternative commissions and that Designated Agency is available to Buyers. For the record I tell everyone I know that for sale by owner sites are fantastic, and recommend them every time to people who do not need the services I provide.