A pair of Winnipeg real estate agents were disciplined by their industry association following a complaint by a homebuyer over their handling of her property purchase.
CBC reports the complaint was brought by first-time buyer Chantal Orsak, who bought a home in 2022 for $331,100 – the property was listed for sale at $249,900 and Orsak paid over 30% the asking price. Five other offers were put forth on the property, although Orsak was not informed of the offers. Orsak complained that her new home came with problems that she only discovered after taking possession of the property.
“This house is not worth what I paid, absolutely not,” Orsak said. “I have suffered a great deal, not just financially, but emotionally and psychologically over this situation.”
The Manitoba Real Estate Association imposed “disciplinary measures” against Orsak’s real estate agent, Paige Derksen Rodrigues, and the seller’s agent, Marcia Bergen, both of Royal LePage Prime Real Estate.
The exact nature of these measures was not disclosed, although the association stated the agents violated their code of ethics and standards for not disclosing information including “the price and terms that any party may be prepared to agree to,” or the terms of competing offers. The association also noted that since the same brokerage was involved in the transaction, a listing agent who is “acting as a dual agent shall not use the information contained in another offer to put either client at a competitive advantage.”
“I want the members of the public to understand and know my story, because there are individuals out there who are supposed to be helping and safeguarding you when you’re making such a large purchase for the first time in your life, like a house,” Orsak said.
How did you learn about my story?
From the CBC.
What am I missing?
You knew the house was listed for $249,900, and you paid $331,100. Now you’re whining because you paid too much?
When a shortage of inventory, causes over asking price offers, all parties from Buyers -+to Seller – to Agents need to sign full disclosure an Indemnification addendum. Then when they “feel ripped off”, or whatever the complaint for overpaying is voiced, the controlling document resolves the issue. There is definitely more than One Side to this situation.
“Orsak, who bought a home in 2022 for $331,100 – the property was listed for sale at $249,900 and Orsak paid over 30% the asking price.” …. WHY pay that? If it were worth 331k, they would have listed it at or near that price.
there needs to be some personal responsibility taken, here. You chose to offer AND close on that property at that price. You did not have to buy that property.
This happened in 2022. Why wait so long to bring charges?
How does someone pay 30% over list price without knowing there was other interest or offers on the table too? Did she ask her buyer’s agent to inquire with the listing agent on what was going on with the home in terms offers? Since its a same agency company agents usually are cooperative with each other in this issue. Did she look at other homes before hand and loose out to higher prices so she upped her price to beat the competition? If there was a mortgage what was the “fair market” appraised value? If there was no formal appraisal then a AI computer appraisal may have been available. Most USA real estate people are familiar with Canadian real estate laws and procedures so I’m really speculating here. Some people overpay because they madly wanted a house and after loosing on multiple bids on other houses many times their priorities change and just about any house will do! If she’s had repair problems too then did she get an inspection and were aware of most of them in advance of closing on the house? She’ll not the only one suffering in this kind of scenario. It’s a combination of agents being only sales persons and losing their “fiduciary” responsibilities to the customer but also overly eager buyers getting ravenous in their buying process. There’s more to this saga than a short news story repeat.
I would love to see the documentation supplied to the Board of Realtors to establish non-disclosure of pertinent details. It is quite astonishing that she didn’t know she was paying so much over the asking price. Although I did have a multiple-offer situation, I told my buyer NUMEROUS times that any amount we paid over the appraised amount would have to come out of her “pocket” and wouldn’t be included in the loan. I explained this NUMEROUS times, and she still claimed not to have known this after the closing. SMH.