Sounds like a lawyer is required to me. The banks don't add the lawyer fees to the mortgage. Actually, it is a condition that the purchaser have in addition to the down payment, a sum (usually a small percentage of the purchase price) for closing costs. (ie, lawyer fees).

You can call it what you like, lawyers are involved in a higher portion of home purchases than real estate agents.

Yes.

Well yes, I only emailed ones I knew to have been recently successful with similar properties. And, I have to say, I think the agent has presented the property well, the virtual tour is, I think, quite well done.

In Manitoba its People who are licensed as Brokers & Agents, not the Corporation they operate under. I believe its the person who is legally responsible and not the Corporation, but I may be wrong.

I imagine this accounts for a fair chunk of the fee. It's my understanding that, in Toronto, it's usual for the broker to be in court defending against actions while the agents do the selling.

My assumption about real estate agents is that they all behave like they are in glengary glen ross.

We didn't sue in the end due to time and cost but have completed a report and submitted to the Provincial Real Estate Board. I don't expect it to be any different to the General Medical Council in the UK or any other self policing quango.

At least some mud will hopefully stick to the two incompetents in question.

I think that's likely fair. Something I didn't know until recently is that many of them are in hock to the broker; if they have a period of no sales they borrow to live.

I can't say what 'they" do, I always go to house inspections firstly I represent my buyers and should be there to help them. I have to be there to let them into the house and the security of the house is my responsibility during the inspection.

If there is an access problem I can (sometimes) resolve it with a phone call.

I organize my Inspectors to do the basement and roof first, if there are real problems we can all call it a day early, and my buyers get to pay less for the inspection.

If smaller but still significant problems come up I can, for instance, phone an insurance broker and get an indication of the extra costs involved in say "Knob & Tube" wiring visible in the house.

I can and do discuss the inspection with my clients and will advise them on getting additional (more expert) advice if necessary (say a quote on re-roofing).

Personally the more house inspections I do, the better I can serve my clients as my knowledge increases.

I think you have all frightened the other real estate agents away

FWIW - I know realtors who will pick expats up at the airport, find a place for them to rent, show them round numerous properties, help them get their drivers license and other paperwork, organize a mortgage, and still might not get a sale out of it because the buyer walks into a show home and falls in love.

However, the realtor will gladly pick up the next person with a smile on his or her face.

Self employed people try and present a level of service even when they are taken for granted, by-passed, and dumped on!

Just staying in business takes guts and dedication to the service they give.

They are not paid sick days, or holidays. They have no built in retirement plan. they have to pay for every staple, every paper clip and every phone call. And tomorrow the market they represent may crash, or be changed through Government regulation.

But they will not whine to the client!

Professional salesmen/women are among some of the best people I know.

If you don't need their service -great.

Interesting comment:-

"He added: 'Although this is great news for the seller, what about the buyer?

'With the weight of Tesco on the seller's side, this stacks the odds even more against the buyer.

'In the UK, 98per cent of all buyers don't yet have expert advice or an expert negotiator working for them, whilst over 70per cent of US buyers do.

'Now that new innovative services such as iSold are appearing on the selling side of the transaction, we can expect to see similarly innovative online services emerging to assist the buyer.'"

That's not exactly correct. Buyers do have expert advice - they get surveys and have a lawyer do the paperwork etc. What they don't have is a realtor to show them around a house or 'negotiate' on their behalf. But this is something that most people can do by themselves.

I'd much rather be a purchaser in the UK - you get access to things such as the previous selling prices of houses in the area on-line for free.

Buyers could certainly benefit from expert assistance but the mls arrangement does nothing to provide it. Under the Canadian system the interest of a buyer's agent is in making a sale, any sale, they're not likely to see the client again and so just need to push a house on the client at the highest possible price. There's as much need for innovation here as there.

That is a quote from the CE of this company:

http://buyersedgeuk.com/index.php?op...124&Itemid=126

Are many people going to pay 1.5% of the asking price for their service? I doubt it very much. However, unlike the north american system there is a choice.

So if they "negotiate" a 1000 discount off a 400,000 house they expect to earn a 6000 "success" commission?