For Sale By Owner Listings & MLS®

  On numerous occasions I get asked by consumers about the "changes" they have vaguely heard or read about over the past couple of years pertaining to allegations from the Federal Competition Bureau that the Multiple Listing Service (MLS®) is anti-competitive.

  First, these allegations were never proven.  However in response, the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) which owns and maintains the consumer website www.REALTOR.ca and owns the MLS® and REALTOR® trademarks adopted some changes whereby consumers wishing to have nothing more than their property listed on MLS® could do so. 

  This change gave rise to various companies and or allowed indivdual REALTORS® should they choose, the opportunity to place a seller's property on their local MLS®  system for a fee.  These listings are techincally referred to a "mere postings" wherein the seller handles most or all of the selling activities on their own such as advertising, conducting open houses, negotiating any offers they receive etc. 

  Licensed REALTORS® are responsible for the integrity of everything we do which is why we are required by law to carry errors and omissions insurance.  This includes the accuracy of the information we provide with respect to a listed property.  Taxes, room sizes, zoning, available services and other pertinent information must be accurately determined and fully disclosed regarding a listed property including "mere postings."  This is done to ensure that information going out to consumers is accurate and any pertinent facts are fully disclosed.

  CREA has gone one step further and investigated the potential of allowing "For Sale by Owner" properties known as FSBO's and non-MLS® listed properties to be included on www.REALTOR.ca  After careful consideration and upon obtaining qualified legal opinion, the decision has been made to not allow this. 

  First, in allowing FSBO's and non-MLS® listed properties on www.REALTOR.ca it would jeopardize the MLS® and REALTOR® trademarks.  Secondly, the integrity of property information available to consumers on the CREA owned consumer real estate website www.REALTOR.ca would be compromised.
  In summary, consumers now have more choices in how they choose to market their properties.  A traditional full service MLS® listing has the REALTOR® doing all the work.  A mere posting allows a REALTOR® to place the seller's property on their respective MLS® system which feature the property on www.REALTOR.ca and thje seller handles the remaining aspects of the sale process.  Finally, the seller can go the "For Sale By Owner" route handling the entire process on their own with no MLS® presence.