Do You REALLY Know Your Real Estate Professional?
Buying or selling a house is a big decision. This is why you want to make sure that the person you are entrusting to represent your best interests actually knows what they are doing and can be trusted with the most private information and security access.
Before you begin working with a real estate broker or salesperson, please do your due diligence and make sure he or she is not only a registered professional, but is also in good standing with RECO (Real Estate Council of Ontario). The information available to consumers includes registration status, expiry date of registration and regulatory activities related to the brokerage, broker or salesperson (such as whether they are facing charges or have been disciplined in the last 60 months along with the reason(s)):
Registrar's proposals to refuse, revoke, suspend or apply conditions to a registration
Charges under REBBA 2002 and related convictions
Immediate suspensions ordered by the Registrar
Decisions of Discipline and Appeals Panel related to unethical conduct
Note: Discipline decisions older than 60 months can be found by visiting Regulatory Activities and Decisions on RECO’s website here.
Although we like to think that all agents are trust-worthy individuals, unfortunately, there are cases of agent conduct that fall short of required ethical standards; buyers and sellers need to be proactive and aware.