SMOKE AND MIRRORS....
I see a fair amount of real estate advertising these days that promotoes "We are full members of the Toronto Real Estae Board" or "we also list your home on the Toronto Real Estate Board". I'm now starting to see banners popping up on main street with similar messages. So what's this really all about ?
When you go to the Toronto Real Esate Board's (TREB) website you'll find a link called Realtor® Search. You can see that the word Realtor has an ® attached to it.
REALTOR®, REALTORS® and the REALTOR® logo are certification marks owned by REALTOR® Canada Inc., a corporation jointly owned by the National Association of REALTORS® and The Canadian Real Estate Association. The REALTOR® trade marks are used to identify real estate services provided by brokers and salespersons who are members of CREA and who accept and respect a strict Code of Ethics, and are required to meet consistent professional standards of business practice which is the consumer's assurance of integrity.
When you click on the Realtor® Search button on TREB you will be redirected to http://www.mls.ca/realtorsearch.aspx
You are now going to find yourself on the national MLS™ search services designed, implemented and maintained by the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA). You will find 'ALL" properties listed in Canada with the MLS™ online system. How does that happen?
When your local agent lists your property for sale it is entered in his or her local MLS™ system. I'm a member of the Quinte District Association of REALTORS® Inc.. Each new listing entered into the Quinte system is uploaded daily to www.REALTOR®.ca. I don't have to claim that I'm a member of TREB. But when I list your home, it is listed the same way as any other REALTOR® in Ontario lists a property. And if a buyer for your home is living in Toronto he or she will be directed to www.REALTOR®.ca and he or she will find your home.
If you think that a buyer for your house is going to come from the Ottawa region, it's still going to show up on www.REALTOR®.ca. A potential buyer living in Ottawa looking for property in the Quinte area is still going to find your home.
Another option that I have is to spend some money and list your home directly with the Ottawa MLS Board. That's known as an Inter-Board listing.
The probability that today's web-savy Ottawa buyer looking for a Quinte home will ONLY use his Ottawa MLS board is pretty slim. The odds are pretty staggering. Research shows that the vast majority of buyers are using this medium to find their new homes. Approximately 90 percent of properties sold in Canada were sold through REALTOR®.ca
So are these claims about listing your home with TREB "smoke and mirrors" ?
It comes down to "perception" doesn't it.
Posted by Wolf Braun
on February 1, 2012