A Point of View

Calgary Real Estate Board Changes Rules
For The Reporting of Conditionally Sold Properties.

It has long been a requirement of The Calgary Real Estate Board (CREB), that Realtors amend the status of conditionally sold properties to pending within two business days of acceptance of an offer effectively removing the listing from the Active Listings category.

Now, the seller has the option of keeping the fact that the property is conditionally sold, confidential and provided the seller is prepared to put it in writing, the seller can instruct their Realtor not to disclose that fact to others. This is considered a lawful instruction from the Seller, so the Seller’s Realtor has no other option but to obey this lawful instruction.

This problem arose because sometimes properties come back on the market through no fault of the seller. It may be that the buyer failed to obtain financing, the property may not have appraised to the satisfaction of the lender or maybe the home inspection was not to the satisfaction of the buyer or worse still, the buyer had buyer’s remorse and plain backed out of the deal.

There are many reasons why properties come back on the market but when they do, it seems some Realtors and Sellers believe that it has the possibility of harming the seller who has lost valuable marketing time. To complicate matters, once a home re-appears in the active listings, it can raise suspicion from Realtors and Buyers that maybe something is wrong with the property when that is not the case at all.

Now, the seller can make the decision to not publish the fact that the property is conditionally sold and has the option to continue marketing it until the sale becomes firm.

So where does this leave the Buyer? It could be, that now, Buyers and their Realtors may be touring and viewing properties that are already conditionally sold and not know it.

There is a solution. Realtors are governed by a strict Code of Ethics and Standards of Business Practice which clearly explains that a Realtor must be truthful. So, now, my brokerage Realtors have been counseled that when setting up appointments to show property to buyers, they ask the listing Realtor if the property is conditionally sold. Remember, if the Seller is continuing to market the property is will show up as an Active Listing.

The listing Realtor really has just two options if the listing shows up in the Active Listings category. The first is to say no it is not conditionally sold if that is true or, if the Seller has instructed the Realtor not to report it as conditionally sold the answer will be, I cannot comment on that question, which may be an indication to the Realtor asking, on behalf of the buyer, that there could well be an offer on the property.  The Buyer’s Realtor can then bring this to the attention of the buyer who can then make the decision whether to waste time viewing the property or move on to listing that are not conditionally sold, saving themselves time and inconvenience.

This latest move is not at all new. The Edmonton Real Estate Board has operated in this way for years without any great outcry from the public.

In closing, let us not forget that having a property listed is an inconvenience to many sellers therefore, you may well find that the sellers may just say, let’s report the property as conditionally sold once it has an accepted offer on it so the seller can get their household back to normal.

Let’s face it, showings are inconvenient, especially when they occur during the evening when people arrive home after a hard days work and want to relax, or the kids are hungry and ready to have supper or go off to bed.

For the record, that is my point of view.

The author, Ken Carter is the Broker/Owner of Carter & Associates Realty in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.