When agents go REAL Bad!

This latest nightmare comes from a visitor to a recent open house I was hosting.

The visitor was very open sharing her ongoing experience with a nightmare purchase that had taken place and is still unresolved.

This began when the client, we’ll call her Leslie, wanted to buy a condo in an area west of the GTA.  She spoke to an agent at an open house of a unit that she had seen online.  She could see that the unit needed updating and the agent assured her that it could easily be repaired and updated.

Leslie proceeded to make an offer and purchase the property.  The agent gave her the name of a contractor, “that comes highly recommended”.  Leslie had them in and they gave her a price to complete the work.  The work was begun but stopped mid-way into the job.  Leslie’s phone calls went unanswered and her calls to the agent did nothing to resolve the issue.

Leslie called in another contractor to complete the work, at additional costs to her.  In seeking reparations for the failed contractor project completion, Leslie found out that not only was the contractor a friend of the realtor, but the realtor was getting a “referral fee” for the same.  Leslie also found out the realtor failed to disclose that he was representing both the seller and herself in the transaction.  They were also related to the seller.

Needless to say, these situations are more common than one would expect in this profession.  More than 60% of real estate professionals in Ontario, complete less than 3 transactions per year!  It’s like having a dentist do a root canal that does only 3 per year – would you trust them with the process?

Full disclosure is required by licensing bodies in Ontario, be it Toronto, Milton, or Hamilton.  There are specific forms and duties required to fully inform buyers and sellers of their rights and obligations of the sales representative in any transaction involving real estate.  Buyer beware applies here.  Leslie is a prime example of what can and does go wrong.

Always seek out a full-time real estate professional – it’s your largest financial transaction, why risk it unnecessarily. If you have questions about this or other real estate concerns, feel free to reach out to me via email, text, or phone.  I'm always here to help.