So I sometimes find that our people, ya that’s you, like to hear what happens in the back end of our industry. It’s nice to hear some news from the inside, nice to know where all of the fees and such go. Well I recently heard of a case that was submitted to RECO (Real Estate Council of Ontario), that had a somewhat unexpected outcome that was immediately split in controversy. An agent had clients he was taking out to view several properties, he booked all of the appointments and had his route all planned. Drove to the first house and waited, his clients were late then he got a call and for whatever reason they cancelled the entire evening with this agent and planned for another time. The agent then proceeded to call the respective offices and cancel the showings, as most showings are in an hour window, it’s certainly a burden on the seller to vacate the home between 6:30 and 7:30 or whatever when you have dinner, kids, bedtimes, dogs, limited mobility family members, etc.. Making sure you either show up and show it or cancel it so people can get back to their lives is not only just decent and respectful, and professional – but it’s now the law.
This agent cancelled his appointments, 1 by 1 from the data sheets he had, but merely made the calls and didn’t keep notes. Now, nobody knows the exact circumstances, whether he just missed one, or was busy/no answer as happens from time to time with some of the smaller brokerages/offices, maybe he did everything right and an overworked support staff at the listing brokerage forgot to notify the homeowner. Like I said, I don’t know the exact circumstances, neither does the agent who didn’t take notes on cancelling their appointments – the cold hard fact remains that the homeowner had one of those extenuating circumstances that made vacating the house, difficult and inconvenient and when nobody showed was livid, they went to www.reco.on.ca and on the main page clicked “file a complaint”. From there RECO investigated, with no proof that he actually spoke to someone about cancelling this showing, RECO issued him a $500 fine and he had to write an apology to both the homeowner and the listing agent. Some sellers will be so infuriated that showings are booked and nobody comes that they blame their listing agent and will, in fact cancel that listing – although the listing agent has no control over the accountability of the showing agents – RECO has that control. They have flexed that muscle and the precedent is set.
You may find it surprising I posted where to lodge a complaint, I feel it’s important for consumers to know who regulates us and why. We will NEVER give you a reason to need it, but it’s nice to know you are protected if you ever do! Mccarthomes.com