If you read some of the news articles about the recent Competition Bureau agreement with the Canadian Real Estate Association, you could truly be confused. But here are some clear facts:
1. You MUST be a licenced Realtor to post a listing on the MLS system. As a Realtor, this seems pretty simple. We all pay a lot of money to join and maintain the system. Nobody is going to say a one-time user can have my services without some strings attached.
2. Listings can be posted by a licenced Realtor without any contract for service. If you read my blog regularly, you know that I think that this is alright. It is somewhere between making your own coffee at home and Starbucks. Some people will desire this level of service. From a selfish point of view, I know that the listing salesperson cannot contract outside of the law, and may be liable, should there be a legal issue in the transaction. This will add stress to our Errors and Omissions policy costs which, in my opinion, is already too high.
3. 85% to 90% of Sellers and Buyers use a Realtor to buy or sell their most valuable asset. There is true value in the services we provide. When this MLS issue hit the press a few years ago in the US, things changed a bit for those buying and selling privately, but those 85/90 numbers did not change.
4. Prudential Grand Valley Realty is a full service brokerage.We're not interested in doing someone a favour by putting their listing on MLS as a favour to "test" the market. You're either an apple or an orange. There's no in between.
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