We often question in this column the reasons why any individual would consider selling a property privately.
It’s exposure of a house or building that creates activity, activity creates interest, interest creates competition, competition creates multiple offers and the best price in any type of market.
Even the federal government has seen the light and has signed a special memorandum of understanding with the Canadian Real Estate Association to put all of the government’s surplus properties on the Multiple Listing Service®
As you can appreciate, governments at all levels own a lot of property. It was once suggested that if the federal government ever sold all of the real estate it controls, we would eliminate the federal debt in one fell-swoop! But we won’t hold our breath!
The point is, the government long ago determined that whenever it identified a surplus property that it wanted to sell, it would have its local representatives contact the local real estate board and place the property on MLS®. The government knows that by dealing with a REALTOR and putting its property on MLS®, it will eliminate headaches. And, that the exposure created on MLS® (commercial property on the information exchange — icx®) will ensure the best price is received for the property in the shortest amount of time with the least inconvenience.
Government officials determined that by partnering with a professional, the REALTOR will take care of all the details — no matter how complex. And, they know the REALTOR has access to all sorts of affiliated professionals (lawyers, accountants, engineers, appraisers, home inspectors and other REALTORS across North America).
The government also figured out the “magic of Multiple.” Ottawa knows that no matter how much expertise nor how many resources it may have in local, regional and/or national offices, a property will not get the exposure it needs by simply putting up a sign and having ads in local or selected papers. Even the government with its many resources can’t duplicate the system developed and perfected by REALTORS over the past 50-plus years.
By listing their property with a Winnipeg REALTOR and putting a property on the Winnipeg Real Estate Board’s Multiple Listing Service®, information on the property is instantaneously shared with 1,100 other Winnipeg REALTORS, each of whom is probably working with buyers. That same property information is then automatically uploaded to mls.ca (commercial property to icx.ca), the national public website owned and operated by REALTORS, that exposes the property to over 78,000 REALTORS nationwide along with their customers and clients across the country and around the world. The mls.ca and icx.ca sites are advertised and promoted actively and extensively by all REALTORS and all real estate boards, provincial real estate associations and the Canadian Real Estate Association on a daily basis.
So, not only does the government end up with a sign and an ad in the most successful real estate newspaper in Winnipeg, it is comforted in knowing it is represented by a full-time professional who has contacts worldwide and can expose its property on the most active and most successful real estate websites in Canada.
And, the government knows all the details will be handled by their professional. Pre-qualifying buyers, all facets of marketing — market evaluation, advertising, open houses (if necessary), showings, offer preparation and presentation, negotiating, condition removals, financing, and title searching, zoning and land-use verification — the whole gamut of professional real estate service.
Even the government is smart enough to know that it doesn’t want to put up a sign, place an ad and pray. It needs a real estate professional no matter what type of market to ensure maximum exposure of the property.
Public Works and Government Services Canada has figured it out — sellers’ market, buyers’ market or normal market, partner with a professional.
Get a REALTOR and get on MLS®.