I have a well qualified buyer seriously interested in purchasing a home in your area. Ever gotten one of these letters? We get one every few months at our house, and we see them in our clients' homes all the time:
A sincere request
They are distributed all over the city by a few repeat offenders, and many home owners believe them. The letter is so generic it could apply to almost any potential buyer looking in a condo complex or neighbourhood.
We've listed many properties where the owners have shown us this letter, and asked us to let the agent know about their listing. Of course, we always call the agent, and amazingly they never even show the listing let alone bring an offer. If they really had a client that wanted to live in the area badly enough to distribute letters about their predicament, shouldn't they be the first agent calling us to show the property?
Here is what the Real Estate Council of Alberta (RECA) has to say in their advertising guidelines:
"RECA is aware of some marketing schemes that rely on the concept of communicating a misleading offer to get a foot in the door with a client, but the offer is then substantially qualified during the meeting with the prospective client. This is a form of misleading advertising called “bait and switch" and it is illegal in Alberta and most jurisdictions across Canada."
It's just one more example of advertising that makes consumers skeptical - it certainly makes me wary about dealing with these specific agents. Perhaps if the letter said my clients would like to live in a 1000-1300 square foot bungalow on this street because their parents live on ### street, and their daughter has special needs and must live in the area by August to attend such and such special school, I would take notice.
On occasion we've had clients that really did want to buy in a particular building or on a particular street, and they've asked us to do something similar. The problem with this tactic is that if we do find a home owner interested in selling in this scenario, we've seriously given away our client's motivation. Our hands are really tied behind our backs when the time comes to negotiate for our clients in this type of situation.
About Sara MacLennan
Sara MacLennan is the Director of Marketing at Liv Real Estate and a licensed Real Estate Associate. The bulk of Sara’s experience and wealth of expertise lies in on-line technology and marketing both for agents and consumers. Sara is the former National Director for Interactive Marketing for Coldwell Banker Canada where she was responsible for an extensive training program traveling to offices across the country training agents and brokers on marketing and technology. Find Sara on Twitter @edmontonblogger.
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Funny, I got that same letter and I live in a different neighborhood than you…
I have recieved several of those and even had one come over for a laugh when I was bored. Hilarity ensued when I asked about his buyer.
So it begs the question of why the governing body of realtors does not punish or revoke the license of these agents. Either the “profession” is not a self regulating Profession like P eng, Accounting, nurses, doctors lawyers etc (which is my suspicion) or they just dont care.
Actually the little r that gets put after the realtor word spells it out. The title of realtor is really just a club, not a real profession..at least compared with the others.
No offence to our hosts as there are talented agents out there but noone should think they are a self regulated actual titled profession.
Inspector Out!
Someone has to make a complaint for it to stop, and someone else would probably just pick up where they left off. Personally I think calling them out in a public place like this blog will make more people aware of [this form of advertising], and perhaps make the people using this method reconsider their actions.
Real Estate is self-regulated in Alberta by RECA (which has nothing to do with CREA who controls the REALTOR(R) trademark). Here is a list of all the people who had their licenses suspended last year: link to reca.ca. There are also links on their site showing the hearings that have been held and the outcomes.
Sara, Sheldon. I have had many of those letters over the past and I don’t think it is any different than a certain car company who puts notes on used cars saying they have a buyer who is looking for a vehicle like yours when all they are trying to do is drum up business .
However there is one other practice that makes me wonder if legal or not. There is a particular realtor who on all of her listings has a note:
The seller is offering the buyer a 1 in 50 chance of winning $5,000.00. I have to think that as it is on all her listings it is a recommendation she is making. I know you have covered this off before as something that smacks of desperation but I have to wonder if it is legal? Sounds like a 1 in 50 chance is a lottery of sorts which I believe is illegal unless there is a license # attached to it and it is a charity of sorts. Would be interested in your thoughts on this practice.
That is a good question… I’ve never thought about it from a “lottery” perspective and would have to ask a lawyer about that. From a real estate regulation perspective, that is an incentive and as such all agents at that brokerage would have to offer it to their clients.
How about the ones who say, “If your house is not sold in 90 days I’ll buy it!”
Funny thing is, they don’t state that they’ll buy it for the listed price. They’ll buy it alright, for a price $50,000 less than what they told the seller it would sell for.
There are very strict regulations about guaranteed sales… among those regulations is agreeing on the guaranteed price when the property is listed. That’s a whole other topic though and perhaps it’s worthy of a blog post.
Awesome….
Next time I see such an ad, and it is very common in our neighbourhood, with very low listings, I will post all of his/her info here and send the ad to the governing body.
Lets bring the dirtbags front and center!
When we lived in Toronto, we actually got a call from a realtor, out of the blue, at dinner time. He gave me the whole deal about having a buyer who wanted to buy our house, etc.
I was pretty annoyed about the call. I LOVED that house. It was OURS ! How could he have the nerve to even THINK of selling it to someone else ! Somehow, I felt kicked out of my own house.
Instead of engaging in a discussion with him about his offer, I replied “Funny that you should call me… My husband just told me that he would REALLY like to date your wife !”
This ended the call right there and then, with stunned silence at the other end, followed by a click. Apparently the realtor’s script didn’t provide an answer for this line of discussion.
We still laugh about it, every so often.
If someone called me like that I’d tell him to write up the offer and present it to me. Otherwise, if he didn’t have an offer, then go to hell.
I am going to double post this here, and in the update from Friday so everyone sees it beacause it really pisses me off. Anyway, I am opening up my mail this morning and guess what?
There is a well qualified buyer seriously interested in purchasing my house and willing to pay top market value!!!
Well, at least according to:
[comment edited]
I am outing him here, and I guess I should report it to the governing body since it is illegal.
What a worm.
What’s his phone number? I want to call him and tell him to bring the offer over. I’ll want it signed by the buyer, since he’s “seriously interested”.
He probably sent hundreds or thousands of these out so he won’t even know what neighbourhood I’m calling from. If he asks for the address, I’ll just ask why he needs my address, since he has someone already interested in MY HOUSE. He should know the address in this case.
If you really want to buy in a very specific area, just go door to door in person and skip the realtor.
I know its a couple weeks old in regards to this blog post but what makes the bait and switch illegal? Provincial regulations? Consumer protection laws? Or reca rules?
[I see] this exact type of ad all over kijiji…If this is illegal it shouldnt take a complaint for reca to get involved. The average person wouldn’t know who to turn to and those that do know mostly don’t care or because they are in the profession they probably don’t want to alienate themself with a complaint. This is a perfect example of a serious issue reca could easily eliminate but they clearly ignore.
Definitely some great information I haven’t read anywhere.. its too bad so many realtors do this. It definitely tarnishes the image of so many hard working honest realtors out there.
Hello everyone, Sara. This is Ed DePrato. I’m commenting here with the hope of addressing some of the concerns regarding our “Sincere Request”. First, we deliver fliers like this into areas where we have an active buyer only – and it’s done by postal code. We do it to have homes to show our buyer-clients who are asking us to help them find a home. We always use the available inventor on the MLS, but as you all know, our industry is fractured (with the advent of by-owner listings) and several web sites claiming to help people sell a home without an agent. We don’t follow or rely on the info from those sites. It’s actually easier and less time consuming to deliver a flier. My team meets every Monday and we discuss where we have buyers looking for a home, size, etc – and that area gets a flier.
When we talk about selling a home or showing the home of any member of the public we are obligated to make them aware of their options regarding exposure and the selling process. Sellers have a right (not an obligation) to use our services, and we have sold homes for people who were not listed, but we are required (legally) to inform sellers that forgoing proper exposure and representation can result in a lower sale price.
We currently have buyers looking for homes in NE excluding Fort Saskatchewan, Millwoods and communities along the mill creek ravine.
I hope this clears up any confusion. I can be reached at ed@edeprato.com or by phone at 780-498-9977.
Ed.
I am a little confused why my comment was edited.. I outed another realtor who commonly uses the bait and switch but it was left from my post. Since my comment was edited It be nice to hear some feed back on my question. What makes the bait and switch illegal? Reca? Consumer protection laws etc etc…
In regards to Ed’s comment I am sure most realtors realize that your excuse for the bait and switch is just an excuse. We all know its meant to get more listings under the disguise that you can pretend its for your “clients”. I am sure reca needs just the faintest excuse to close a complaint and I am sure yours would work just fine for that. Like the post said if the flyer was very specific with bedrooms, square footage, exposure.. all the very details that would narrow down a house to a select few would people then believe it’s true purpose.
Because the purpose of the article was not to out any individuals but the practice itself. There are consumer protection laws and industry rules that prohibit bait and switch advertising.
Consumer protection laws!
Ha ha! Thanks Sara! I had a really good laugh after that comment!
Yes, we’re all protected by our consumer protection laws and the government inspectors. LOL!
link to competitionbureau.gc.ca
You can have all the laws you want.
If they’re not enforced they’re useless.
Oh ok now I get what you’re saying
Nothing against you Sara. Just cynicism against our so-called government protectors. Actually, against government in general.