The Okanagan Mainline Real Estate Board (OMREB) says old data is to blame regarding a Global News investigation of inaccurate home listings.
The investigation found that the listings for some homes in the Kelowna area were not accurate, and that some real estate agents had listed homes as being in the Lower Mission when, in fact, they were not.
For example, one Fisher Avenue home was listed as being in the Lower Mission when, in fact, it’s located in the Springfield/Spall area. Another home on KLO Road near Benvoulin under construction was listed as being in the Lower Mission, but, again, it’s not.
This week, OMREB said, “Unfortunately, the assumption was made that realtors posting the listings were using this tactic to misrepresent properties to consumers … an assumption that casts OMREB members in a negative light.”
OMREB said it investigated the matter and stated “that the errors do not appear to have been motivated by an intention to mislead or misrepresent. Rather, the problem arose because members were using historical MLS listing information to assign the area to the new listing or were not accurate in their comments about the property.”
“The misinformation likely arose through two avenues: As a result of an autofill field that had previously assigned the property to an incorrect sub-region; or through inaccurate comments made in the public comment section of the MLS, such as the example in the news item where a property was described as located in Lower Mission, when, in fact, it was located in an adjacent sub-region.”
OMREB said it has reached out to realtors whose listings were incorrect, adding “all of whom were genuinely dismayed and keen to correct the problem.”
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