April 14, 2009
Dual-Agent Roles Cloud Home Sales
Question: If a selling agent neglects to inform a homeowner that a higher bid has been made and chooses instead to sell the house to a person he’s also representing as a buyer’s agent, what rights do the seller — and the higher bidder — have?
Answer: Generally speaking, real estate experts caution buyers and sellers against using the same real-estate agent because of the conflicts it can create. Negotiating a final sales contract involves lots of give and take on both sides, and if your agent is also representing the other party in the transaction, that immediately puts you at a disadvantage. How will you know if the agent is doing more to serve your interests — or the interests of the other party?
Despite the potential for trouble, it’s still common for agents to represent both the buyer and the seller, especially since doing so greatly increases the agent’s commission. In Ontario, such arrangements are legal, though these so-called “dual agents” have to get a “multiple representation” consent of the buyers and sellers first.
The law gets trickier when two agents within the same real-estate company represent both sides of a transaction. In theory, that situation can lead to big conflicts if the two agents, who probably work in close proximity to one another, share information. Such arrangements are allowed without consent of the buyers and sellers, although the agents involved are not supposed to share information.
Although real estate agents have a fiduciary duty to their clients to give them the best possible service, if they’re acting within a sanctioned dual-agency arrangement, the agent is fulfilling obligations that you essentially agreed to in advance.
Obviously, it’s often wise to avoid a dual agency relationship from the get-go. No matter how you handle your sale, be sure to keep all the correspondence between you and your agent, and don’t be afraid to snoop around to learn more about other possible bids — and more about your agent’s reputation. In many cases, sellers don’t even know they’ve been taken advantage of, so it pays to know a lot about your local market, including the recent sales prices of nearby homes, before you get far along in the home-sale process. Doing some research on your agent and on recent nearby transactions can make you a more informed seller — and help keep the agent honest.
April 6, 2009
Toronto Real Estate Board reports:
March resale housing results show year-over-year sales down 7% and median price down 2.5%.
In March 2009, Greater Toronto Realtors reported 6,171 sales – down seven per cent from March 2008, representing the smallest year-over-year decline in the last five months. The average price for March transactions was $362,052 – down less than five per cent from the same month last year.
“The Greater Toronto housing market has stood up very well given the challenging economic times the world has experienced in recent months,” commented TREB President Maureen O’Neill. “In fact, over the past two months, the situation in the housing market has improved.”
“Sales in March increased at a rate over and above what would be expected from the normal spring-time bump,” said Jason Mercer TREB’s Senior Manager of Market Analysis. “A greater number of households have taken advantage of increased affordability in the housing marketplace.”
The seasonally-adjusted annual rate of sales increased to 65,600 in March – up 36 per cent from the ten-year low reached in January. Seasonally adjusting TREB MLS data removes recurring seasonal trends observed each year. For example, MLS sales are highest in late spring each year and lowest in the winter months. Removing the recurring seasonality, allows for the analysis of a meaningful trend reflecting actual changes in market conditions. By multiplying the monthly seasonally-adjusted figure by 12, creating an annual rate, we can compare how the current month relates to historical annual figures.
Median Price
The median price in March was $317,500 from the $326,000 recorded in March of 2008.