After the rapid-fire market of the last couple years, with multiple offers being the name of the game, finding ways to maintain a fair marketplace for both Buyers and Sellers is at the forefront for National Association the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA). You may have heard rumblings from the Real Estate community recently surrounding a proposed policy from CREA that attempts to reinforce cooperation among Realtors and level the playing field for Buyers. Keep reading to learn more and hear our thoughts.

What does the policy state?

The policy, which was scheduled to go into effect January 1, 2023, would require Realtors to place any listing onto MLS within 3 days of public advertising. This has a direct impact on what are called Exclusive listings, which are “off market listings” advertised outside of the MLS within a brokerage and a Realtors circle of influence. It also affects the period during which a listing can be advertised as Coming Soon before hitting the MLS.

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How this affects sellers

As a team, we feel strongly that this policy infringes on the rights of Sellers and will be damaging to those who would choose to list Exclusively instead of on the MLS system. While attempting to bring transparency and value to our MLS system, it will impact the level of service Realtors are able to provide to their clients as the home is prepared for sale. CREA has since paused their proposed policy due to push back from our membership and will now be bringing this policy to a vote at its next Annual General Meeting. There are a number of reasons why we are not supporting this change of policy.

  • Firstly, there are several situations in which a Seller may prefer to keep the sale of their property quiet, that can range from domestic abuse to celebrity anonymity. As the owner of the “product” for sale, it is the Sellers right to determine the platform for that sale, as well as the how it is marketed. Sellers who require a level of privacy or anonymity often choose to keep their listing off MLS to avoid attracting unwanted attention or even for their own personal safety.

    As Realtors, it is our job to provide our clients with all possible avenues available to them and follow the instructions of said client within the bounds of the law. While this may place some buyers at a disadvantage, they are not in control of the product and thus have no designated right to access, whether on or off market.
  • Secondly, listings are often marketed as Coming Soon through an Exclusive Listing contract signed with a Realtor as they want to make the local market aware of the coming opportunity. It is often during this period that the Realtor and Seller work together to prepare the home for sale by completing home upgrades, junk removal, staging, etc.

    To set a designated period for Comin Soon listings to then be made available on the MLS is not a horrible idea, however the logistics of preparing a home for sale in 3 days is simply unattainable. Regarding Coming Soon listings, this time frame should be reconsidered at the very least. The exclusive listing contract also serves as a commitment between the Realtor and the Seller to work together defining the listing terms such as price, timing etc.

The new proposed policy from CREA would require all listings to be loaded into the MLS within 3 days of being publicly advertised.

Buyer bias?

The rights of our Buyers are as important to us as the rights of our Sellers, however whenever a Buyer agrees to work with a Realtor to purchase a home, they are required to sign what is known as a Buyer Representation Agreement (BRA). The BRA states, “the Buyer acknowledges that the Buyer may not be shown or offered all properties that may be of interest to the Buyer”. In this statement that we see the Buyer’s rights to access information does not trump the Sellers’ rights to choose how their home is presented for sale. The proposed policy from CREA seems to undermine the rights of Sellers in favour of the Buyers.

Our two cents

As a team we have a wide network of both local and out of market agents from whom we pull off market listings which we happily share with our clients as they come available. No matter how the decision lands with CREA, we are here for both our Buyers and Sellers to represent their best interests using every tool at our disposal!

We would love to hear your thoughts on this subject, please feel free to reach out and let’s get the discussion going!

Get in touch today by calling 905-873-9944, emailing info@lisahartsink.com, or fill out the form on this page!