NEITHER
RAIN NOR SLEET NOR SNOW OR HAIL IS SAID TO STOP THE POST OFFICE WELL, THAT ALSO APPLIES TO
A REALTOR AFTER COMMISSIONS
Charles Hanes,
March 8th, 2008
 Check it out! It’s minus seven degrees, so cold that I was
having trouble holding my camera to take these pictures of the pandemonium surrounding
College Park’s latest release “Aura”. Best yet, they’ve
been camped out for 10 days!
Take a number and get in line, wait in the freezing cold for days and you’ll be able
to get a maximum of two suites and line up they did!
Canadian newspapers and television stations have been expounding their theories on a
“Bubble about to Burst” now for over 5 years, yet I didn’t see them
congregating to cover this event. So much for the bursting bubble theory that they’ve
been promoting.
Although I do agree that there has to be a softening of the market here in Toronto, that
threat is substantially removed when buying into a Canderel Stoneridge property,
especially Aura at College Park. I
personally live in a Canderel home and I can tell you that after 30 years in this business
and having bought a number of allegedly high end properties only to be disappointed, I can
tell you that you can hang our hat on Canderel’s commitment to deliver a quality
product.
Unfortunately, this can’t be said of many other developers in this market. I used to
write good things about Context Developments but after their disappointing fiasco with Tip
Top Lofts, I’ve totally signed off of putting my clients into any of their buildings.
This is not to say that Canderel is the only good developer in town, but they are one of
an elite few! I’m not someone who will put buyers into a development solely for
commissions. Many Realtors are happy to work as co-operating brokers which means that they
are an extension of the Seller’s Agent. To get
a clear understanding of where I’m going here you have to know a little about “Agency”, the relationship
between a seller and the person who represents them on the sales floor. In the old days
(I’ve been at this for almost 3 decades now) developers didn’t use Realtors and
certainly didn’t “co-operate” (pay commissions) with Realtors but they
learned that Realtors are a major buying source themselves, let alone a great outreach to
buyers.
They also get a supporting perspective on their product from these Realtors. I’m a
Buyer’s Agent and I hold a legal responsibility to my clients to protect their
interests in the same manner by which the Seller’s agent undertakes to protect ONLY
the Seller’s interests.
I’m sure I don’t have to explain the logic of not using a Seller’s Agent
when you are the Buyer. After all would you hire the lawyer of the person suing you, to
represent you? Of course not! |
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I spent about a half
hour out in the snow capturing these pictures and quizzing many of the Realtors standing
in line shivering and I was appalled by their lack of understanding of the product that
they were introducing their buyers to.
One fellow who had seen me on the recent Venture program on CBC about 1 Bloor St. East hadn’t
even realized and was surprised when I told him that that developer had never built a
building in Canada yet! More surprising to him was the news that I handed him about that
same developer having bought a new site in North York (a bedroom community just above
Toronto) and was marketing it without even having submitted a plan to the city! They were
selling suites with no idea of whether the city would even consider a development of that
nature in that location. This is a sign that the market has gone too far!
This novice Realtor, when told this, then took on a puzzled look on his face and (remember
he was there buying units for clients) asked me about the developer of Aura. Had they
built anything, he asked. With College
Park I (52 floor residential Tower) and College Park II (45 storey
residential tower) towering above us my only logical answer was “look up”. I
don’t think he got my drift.
In this industry knowledge is king. A real estate license isn’t the only required
criteria! If your Realtor is running you around town looking at various condo development
(condos are unique to houses in that every house is different) but can’t tell you the
detailed background on each developer then you are getting taxi service which might save
you gas but won’t do much for your investment portfolio.
I recently attended a launch of a less than great development, in a less than great
location being developed by a less than great developer but instead of delivering clients,
I decided to wait out in the parking lot and as clients left with their Realtors I asked
them the same repeated question “what is the ceiling height of the unit you just
bought”? Guest what! Having asked over a dozen people this same question, not one of
the buyers let alone their Realtors (they had just spent at least a quarter of a million
dollars) could tell me! None could even tell me the name of the developer!
But one thing that you can provably hold to, is that if commission are being paid,
“neither rain nor sleet nor hail nor snow can keep them away”. |
