Buying and selling a home is perhaps one of the most important decisions that anyone can ever make in their lives. It is important for buyers and the sellers to have timely information in order to make right decisions once they are ready to act. Most consumers need professional help of a competent Realtor while buying or selling their home. It is only natural that they would like to hire someone who is not only competent and ethical but also offers a competitive fee structure. Consumers have a right to demand best value for their buck while hiring a Realtor.
Currently there is wide gap in the skill level from one Realtor to another. In a fast changing world where technology is evolving at a rapid pace a strong personal commitment on the part of a Realtor is required towards continuous education and training to attain a competitive edge. In a market where so many Realtors are competing for business with such a wide variety of skills the onus lies on the consumers to decide which agent will work best for them.
Unfortunately, most consumers lack necessary information on some important matters when they are ready for action such as; what should be the selection criteria for hiring a right agent? One of the ways that most consumers come in contact with a Realtor is through agent’s advertising in newspapers, magazines, flyers, radio and TV etc. Should consumers take all the advertising on its face value? It is a difficult choice since every other agent claims to be a Top Agent in town. It is in the consumers’ best interest to do their homework and educate themselves before hiring an agent. Obviously, their main concern is to hire someone who will be able to protect their best interest in the transaction.
Keeping in view the above situation I have decided to play my part in whatever small way possible to try to narrow down this information gap. In order to achieve this objective I have written several articles on various important topics in real estate containing useful information for buyers and sellers and planning to write more in future.
As a professional Realtor I believe in constantly updating my skills through continuous education and training in real estate in order to serve my clients better. I have developed power point presentations for my clients about home buying and selling process. This is part of my continued commitment to ensure that my clients fully understand and have confidence in what I am doing while working with me. I encourage them to ask questions to ensure that they have all the information they need before making a decision. I leave it up to my clients to decide about my professional competence and whether they feel comfortable working with me without any pressure.
I subscribe to the highest ethical standards in my personal as well as professional life. I ensure complete transparency while representing sellers, especially under multiple offer situations. I carry out necessary due diligence before preparing offers and negotiating deals for my clients. It is perhaps because of this reason that I have never been involved in violation of real estate code of ethics in the past several years of my real estate career.
In order to provide flexibility to my clients, I offer Platinum, Gold and Silver commission plans. Under each one of these plans I offer a combination of services for marketing a property. Sellers feel very comfortable once they have the option to choose whichever package they think will be most suited to their budget without any pressure.
Lobbying for change:
I am currently lobbying for changes in Real Estate and Business Brokers Act (REBBA) 2002 regarding Multiple Representation rules. According to existing real estate rules a listing agent, while legally representing the seller can also represent a buyer as a client. I believe that it is not possible for any agent to represent both the parties as clients, at the same time for the same transaction. Negotiating a transaction to the best interest of a client is one of the primary responsibilities of an agent. This constitutes a conflicting situation for the agent and consequently clients are unable to get proper representation that they deserve and pay for while hiring a Realtor.
Besides, I am also lobbying for raising the bar for real estate professional licensing education in Ontario in order to add more value to the profession. In my view the curriculum should include a component for providing hands on training to Realtors to ensure a better quality of service to the clients. Almost all major professional education programs provide some kind of an internship or coop program to ensure that graduating students are properly equipped to deal with real world job requirements. The real estate licensing requirements need to make it mandatory for all new graduates to work under the supervision of a Broker as interns. They should work under supervision for a certain number of deals before being allowed to work independently on their own. I consider it important because the profession of Realtors is such that they are required to service an important segment of the market where people entrust them with some of the most precious assets of their lives. Any lacking on their part could result in significant financial loss to the consumers, which is not fair to them.
Moreover, I am also lobbying for enacting and implementing stricter regulation for advertising in real estate. I am strongly against using any kind of misleading advertising to promote business. I believe that advertising guidelines for Realtors need to be made more stringent in order to ensure that the consumers are not misled. One of the ways that it can be done is by encouraging Realtors to promote the property rather than promoting themselves. This will also help in building a better image of the profession as a whole in the eyes of the public resulting in greater respect for the profession.
My Volunteer Work:
Canada is a country of immigrants. However, it is a fact that most professionally qualified immigrants to Canada have to go through a lot of struggle to settle in their new homeland. They suffer due to lack of proper information regarding their licensing requirements, job opportunities, and several other settlement issues. They have to undergo prolonged periods of uncertainty and insecurity about their future and constantly need help to get an entry in their respective professions. Lack of any support from family, friends, and colleagues makes their transition into a new system that is totally different from the one that they left behind, even harder.
In order to help professionally qualified immigrants to Canada and help them face such grim challenges I have founded an association called 'Proactive Canadian Professionals Association', also known as PACPA. PACPA's primary objective is to help professionally qualified immigrants to this country find gainful employment in their respective professions through networking. It is important to note that more than 85 % of jobs in Canada are filled through networking, without ever being advertised.
PACPA was established in 2004 and it currently has more than 1,100 professionals as its members and is constantly growing. It has now become one of the largest groups of internationally qualified Canadian professionals.
My Professional Affiliations:
• Toronto Real Estate Board (TREB)
• Ontario Real Estate Association (OREA)
• Real Estate Council of Ontario (RECO)
• Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA)
