MLS In The News

You may have heard all the buzz this week about the Canadian Real Estate Association approving a settlement with the Competition Bureau. The media would have you believe that there will be a dramatic restructuring of the way that residential property is bought and sold in Canada. Here are my thoughts....

In a nutshell this agreement means that a REALTOR© may offer a host of different services to the consumer via the Multiple Listing Service (MLS). We always have but here’s the twist. According to MLS rules and regulations we can now offer to post a property listing on MLS for a seller for a fee, and not provide any other services to the seller beyond gathering and posting accurate information about the property. The seller will be responsible for all other activities that would usually be done by the REALTOR© including showing the property, advertising, offer negotiations, etc.

Understand that this will impact buyers who wish to use the services of a REALTOR© in these transactions. The MLS rules state that each listing has to offer compensation to a real estate brokerage who brings a buyer to the table. Now this compensation may be as little as $1. This means that brokerages will have to charge buyers for their service where they have normally been paid out of the seller’s proceeds of the sale.

Will this greatly impact our industry?

There has always been a small percentage of consumers who have attempted to sell their property without using the services of a REALTOR©. This change will be good news for them. I’m sure that a larger number of people will jump on the bandwagon now but I don’t think it will be enough to dramatically impact our business. 97% of those people who try to sell their own property are unsuccessful and end up calling us. In general, most people want to enlist an expert to handle the sale of what might well be their largest financial investment.

A REALTOR© has vast amounts of real estate knowledge and skills that the average consumer does not. Challenges facing sellers who attempt to sell their own property include:

Scheduling showings

Getting feedback from potential buyers

Viewing their property objectively

Qualifying buyers

Targeting costly advertising

Understanding legal issues

Correctly pricing the property

Writing offers

Negotiating

Enlisting 3rd party services

And the list goes on.

One of our salespeople called me yesterday to tell me that he received a call from a gentleman who wanted to know how much we would charge to put his house on MLS. After a short conversation the caller said that he would prefer to list the property with a professional, paying for full service.

Who knows? I may eat my words but I think that once the public really understands the meaning of this change it will be business as usual for real estate brokerages. Post your comments below.....