Real Estate News

How Working with a Realtor Can Benefit YOU

Buying or selling a home can be one of the most important and complicated transactions you make in your lifetime.  With this transaction comes plenty of paperwork, endless decisions to be made, and unknown obstacles.  A Realtor can help you through the process of buying or selling a home from beginning to end, and ensure your financial and legal protection along the way.  Realtors differ from other licensed or registered real estate agents or brokerages in that they are member of The Canadian Real Estate Association, and as such must adhere to the REALTOR® Code and Standards of Business Practice.  These regulations, ethics and high standards ensure you will receive the best possible assistance while buying or selling your property.  Below is an explanation of ways in which a Realtor can help you.

Skill

Realtors have professional marketing and negotiating skills that can help you buy or sell your home at a price that works for you. 

Knowledge

A Realtor knows the ins and out of the industry and uses his or her education and experience to your advantage.  In addition to their training, Realtors constantly update their knowledge through professional education programs

Resources

Realtors have a plethora of resources at their fingertips, which can help you buy or sell a property faster and broaden your options.  Realtors have access to the Multiple Listing Service; thus if you are buying a home, a Realtor can find properties other Realtors are selling, or if you are selling they can list your home so other buyers can discover it through the Realtor with whom they are working.  Realtors can also post signs which can direct buyers’ attention to a home that is for sale and being handled professionally.

Protection

Realtors must follow strict regulations and adhere to a code of ethics that is designed to protect you, the client.  A Realtor is bound to client confidentiality and also must offer you his or her undivided loyalty; he or she must “protect the client’s negotiating position at all times, and disclose all known facts, which may affect or influence their decision.”  Realtors must also “obey all lawful instructions of the seller” and “account for all money and property placed in a brokerage’s hands while acting for the client.”  Furthermore, a realtor can legally incorporate a Property Disclosure Statement into a Contract for Purchase and Sale, ensuring you buy a home with full knowledge of any defects of which the seller may be aware.

For more information, talk to your local CENTURY 21 real estate professional.

Jules Seaman is with CENTURY 21 In Town Realty in Vancouver, BC.