Watch Above: If you think you can save money by buying a foreclosed home, beware. As Tony Tighe reports some foreclosure sales are popping up involving unlicensed realtors.
CALGARY – Realtors are warning potential home-buyers about dozens of online ads that appear to be incredible deals on foreclosed or distressed homes in Alberta.
The listings are posted on Kijiji by a company called HomeForSale 66—but there’s no record of such a company being registered in Calgary or Alberta.
“If you want to represent someone else in a trade in real estate in the province of Alberta, you must be licenced and you must be registered with a licenced brokerage,” said Real Estate Council of Alberta’s Charles Stevenson.
The company claims to be a proud member of the Real Estate Council of Canada’s accredited program, but no such organization exists.
“We are aware of HomeForSale66 and it’s a website of interest to us,” said Stevenson. “HomeForSale66 is not licenced to trade in real estate in Alberta, nor are any of the people associated with HomeforSale66.”
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All of the ads are for foreclosed or distressed properties, with prices far below the market value in the listed neighbourhood.
“We live in a pretty brisk real estate market here in the province of Alberta,” said Stevenson. “So if somebody is offering a property for sale at 10, or 20, or 30 per cent below market value, there’s something just beneath the surface that you’ve got to dig into and find out about.”
If you’re interested in a foreclosed property, realtors urge Albertans to use your own lawyer and realtor to negotiate.
Global News emailed HomeForSale66 to ask about one of the properties advertised on Kijiji. A short time later, the ad was no longer available. The “company” sent back a form response that didn’t answer our request. The response said HomeForSale66 is not a realtor, but offered to refer us to a realtor in Calgary.
UPDATE: May 14, 2014 – Kijiji Canada has since removed the ads mentioned in the above story.
“As soon as we learned that foreclosed Alberta homes were being listed on Kijiji, we removed the offending ads, and instructed our customer service department to look for similar types of ads,” says Head of Real Estate & Jobs on Kijiji Canada Chris Harris. “We also reached out to the Real Estate Council of Alberta to let them know that we welcome working together to ensure the ads on Kijiji best serve those seeking real estate in Alberta.”
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