Photo by Martin Robles on Unsplash
The BC Government announced last week that it intends to introduce a cooling off period and other potential changes for residential real estate transactions next spring.
But what would this look like? Would it put sellers in just as bad of a frenzy that buyers are in today?
The Marketing Act has had a recision period of 7 days for the last 17 years. This means that if you are buying a home within a new development, a purchaser would have one week to be able to walk away with no recourse after submitting their initial deposit. The deposit would be returned to the purchaser in full should they have decided to no longer buy the home.
The presale world is, however, much different than the resale world. They have potentially the same home available on multiple levels. So, if unit 1802 was no longer available, chances are a new buyer could come in and purchase the same home on the 17th level or the 19th level. In resale, properties are unique in every way.
Let’s take a look at government intervention in the real estate sector historically:
- 1988 - Competition Bureau eliminates “standard commissions”;
- 1996 - www.mls.ca goes online, ending the role of Realtors® as “gatekeepers”;
- 2010 - Competition Bureau forces CREA to allow access to “mere postings”;
- 2018 - Real Estate Council bans dual agency.
So what does this mean? The introduction of the cooling off period will just accentuate the need for representation. More skill is going to be required especially for the representation of buyers. Selecting the right agent will never be more important. Marketing your home will be different for sellers. Whether you are buying or selling, it may be the biggest transaction of your life and it MUST BE HANDLED WITH CARE, EXPERIENCE AND KNOWLEDGE.