The second installment in our Real Stories series; these stories are the actual stories of our clients’ real estate experiences.
Jane and Ian were relocating from the UK to Edmonton and found us online. We met with them and explained some of the differences between real estate here and in the UK, and then began showing them homes. They were interested in an older “character” home in an established neighbourhood – being from England, a home built in 1920 was practically new to them!
The market at the time was booming, most homes were selling with multiple offers and no conditions. Jane and Ian had their eye on a storybook home, with a wrap around deck, original woodwork, mature trees, and all the beautiful things that come with an older home. They were well versed on the market and decided quickly to write an offer – they didn’t want to miss out on this one!
We advised them to include an inspection condition with their offer, even though it may make their offer less desirable to the seller. They took our advice, and wrote an excellent offer which the seller accepted. Now was time to find an inspector.
At the inspection a major crack in the foundation was discovered, that the inspector said could cost $90,000 to fix! The seller didn’t know there were any problems that serious and offered to find a professional engineer to have a look at it. The engineer agreed with the inspector saying the repairs were necessary and could cost $50,000-$90,000. Imagine if Jane and Ian didn’t have the inspection!
In the end the Ian and Jane had to pass on this property, but were able to find another with our help in the same neighbourhood. This time it passed the inspection.
REAL STORY – My Story
2005, I moved to Edmonton from Victoria. I contact a realtor(TM) who asked me to meet at Tim Hortons in the afternoon.
After a brief conversation, he told me that he has 13 houses currently on sale. He suggested that we take a quick visit to these 13 houses and come back to Tim Horton. He mentioned that it will take 2-3 hours total to finish the visit. He suggested that we decide the final property that I want to buy on coming back to Tim Hortons.
I found this very difficult to digest! I rather went home than going with him to visit 13 properties in 2-3 hours.
There are all types of realtors out there – some genuine and some suckers! How would you tell who is genuine and who is a sucker?
Anyone please? Is there a website that ranks all the realtors based on real stories??
After almost 10 years of being involved with the Real Estate council of Alberta’s Hearings and appeals panel and the Edmonton Real Estate Board’s Professional standards and arbitration committee I can say that one of the best ways to protect yourself is to do research on who you select. Look for testimonials, personal referrals, their education etc. There is no rating agency that I know of but you can check with the real estate council of Alberta to see if the person you are dealing with has any history of sanctions due to inappropriate conduct.
It is important to be up front and ask tough questions. You also have to determine if the style or personalities are a match.
I have never heard of such a practise that you experienced, and if I were in your situation I would have done the same thing. We started our blog because we wanted to be able to give people more information and to showcase our exceptional committment to customer service, our professional abilities and experience so that people like yourself could have a choice in who was going to represent them.