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Anyone sold their house FSBO?
GGKoul:
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mattv:
My father was the head of the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand; I used to work in the office in the holidays at college. This is a government funded body in my country that is responsible for maintaining control over and disciplining real estate agents in this country. You cannot act as a real estate agent in Nez Zealand without a valid licence from the Real Estate Institute, you can still sell property privately if you own the property yourself, but acting as an agent to sell other peoples property without a licence will land you in prison for five years
Anyway, so the real estate instuite licences all of the real estate agents and is responsible for their behaviour, if you have a problem with the actions of any agent in the country you can complain to the institute who will investigate and act if appropriate. Actions can range form a fine up to $1 million per complaint to withdrawing your real estate licence (remember you can't sell without a licence, this will mean that you loose your current job and will NEVER work in real estate again, a licence that has been withdrawn cannot be reinstated).
There are some people who argue that the real estate instute has too much power and I think they are right but that's the way it is here right now.
There are about 6000 licensed agents in this country and last year there were nearly 500 complaints, 300 of them were upheld and almost 70 real estate agents had their licence withdrawn (were banned from the real estate industry for life).
So the point of this is that real estate agents have a certain reputation, and based on the numbers in my country they deserve that reputation.
But let me tell you this - Even the worst, sleaziest, scummiest real estate agent that ever lived cannot come CLOSE to some of the crazy ---steaming pile of meadow muffin--- that people selling their house privately can pull. Some of the stories we used to hear would make you either laugh or cry.
At least three cases that I know of the seller took the money and disappeared, admittedly they took advantage of the buyer
GameOver:
Man you guys are scaring me! That's some crazy crap! Really, how would drug dealers move into my house while I'm still livin here? I know they're a sneaky bunch but they couldn't get past ol' stinky (that's my dead hamster).
Some people have crazy stuff happen to them. The craziest luck I've ever had was findin' a $20 on the pavement after gettin' my single w/cheese from Wendy's...I guess I've been sheltered. Maybe I should start doing drugs? 8)
Zakk:
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Zakk:
Mattv - Here we have RECO the Real Estate Council of Ontario. They are our policing body. Almost the same powers as you are talking about. In fact, if you do something bad HERE, they not only act against you, they put it on the public website. Kind of like Ebay feedback ;D You want to find out if the agent you are dealing with has had a run in with RECO? Check the handy website! Some of the findings against agents are hilarious. One huy got a huge fine because he painted his name on the forsale signs with reflective paint (your name can't be more prominent than the Broker that you work for afterall).
It's a whole different business than it was years ago. It's funny, there are these old-skool guys that won't learn new material or regulations and quote "I've been doing this for 30 years, I don't need to know any more damn regulations!". These guys are losing their licenses big time. The old cartels are being swept away. It's better for the whole profession in my opinion. As someone stated, we make good money, and we SHOULD be held 100% responsible for our actions.
http://www.reco.on.ca/ccd_salespersons.htm
As for big house scams, the latest we've been briefed on are personality hijackings. People get enough info/paperwork to appear to be the valid seller of a property. They get the payment for the house and disappear, leaving the buyers of the house with a house they don't actually own. Messy messy stuff.