National Economy

[WarrenC12]

Originally Posted by MonkeyRonin

As far as I know, realtors are free to set their own commission rates; and clients are allowed to negotiate. It's a free market - they set their rates at what people are willing to pay; and more realtors means more competition for competitive rates. There's no body that can just wave a wand and cut all commission fees by 50%.

Realtors are in a protected racket. Open source the data and they'd have to compete more and rates would drop.

[suburbanite]

How are they protected? I've gotten multiple unsolicited offers from realtors to list my place for a flat fee. Every other realtor charging a market rate commission is competing against those guys.

[WarrenC12]

Originally Posted by suburbanite

How are they protected? I've gotten multiple unsolicited offers from realtors to list my place for a flat fee. Every other realtor charging a market rate commission is competing against those guys.

The industry as a whole, not individual realtors. It's ripe for disruption.

[chowhou]

I thought the reason why we had consumer protections in other industries is because sometimes people are too dumb/inexperienced to protect themselves. I don't particularly subscribe to the "every transaction is fair because both parties are free to associate or disassociate at any time" libertarian idea.

[ssiguy]

Most realtors are ethical and I don't blame them nor do I blame people who give up their jobs to become a real estate agent. It is far easier money, you can set your own hours, you will make more {especially in expensive markets} and it's a free country. They too have bills to pay.

My point was that our economy has become so warped and real estate focused that even people with high education levels are better off quitting their jobs and moving to the completely unproductive real estate sector.

[Innsertnamehere]

Originally Posted by suburbanite

How are they protected? I've gotten multiple unsolicited offers from realtors to list my place for a flat fee. Every other realtor charging a market rate commission is competing against those guys.

there has definitely been downward pressure on commission rates in Ontario. Still WAAAYYY too high, but there are tons of realtors charging less than 5% these days.

[casper]

Originally Posted by suburbanite

How are they protected? I've gotten multiple unsolicited offers from realtors to list my place for a flat fee. Every other realtor charging a market rate commission is competing against those guys.

Bit of a club. The brokerages are part of the local realty board. You have to be a member of one of the brokerages. There are some startups trying to be disruptive with flat fees.

I do agree now that they have opened up realtor.ca to others its a bit less locked in and there are some who are offering flat fees.

I have only ever sold twice in my life. Both times I used traditional realtors. They have access to the listing service.

Not against realtors making a living. I just thing in the markets that have high prices is easy money relative to other occupations.

[LightingGuy]

Realtors in Edmonton typically charge 7% - makes sense given the lower cost of houses - it's still thr same amount of work so the rate has to go up.

[kwoldtimer]

Originally Posted by LightingGuy

Realtors in Edmonton typically charge 7% - makes sense given the lower cost of houses - it's still thr same amount of work so the rate has to go up.

That's the highest I've ever heard of.

[Hackslack]

7% on the first $100k, 3% on the balance

[LightingGuy]

Originally Posted by Hackslack

7% on the first $100k, 3% on the balance

I misspoke, this is correct.

[suburbanite]

Originally Posted by casper

Bit of a club. The brokerages are part of the local realty board. You have to be a member of one of the brokerages. There are some startups trying to be disruptive with flat fees.

I do agree now that they have opened up realtor.ca to others its a bit less locked in and there are some who are offering flat fees.

I have only ever sold twice in my life. Both times I used traditional realtors. They have access to the listing service.

Not against realtors making a living. I just thing in the markets that have high prices is easy money relative to other occupations.

Getting your brokers license and setting up your own shop as broker of record is a pretty simple process. Getting access to MLS comes with your license and an annual fee. The guys who are offering flat fees all went through that process as well. It probably has some of the lowest barriers to entry out of any industry that generates that much revenue. It's hardly an exclusive club imo.

[whatnext]

Originally Posted by suburbanite

Getting your brokers license and setting up your own shop as broker of record is a pretty simple process. Getting access to MLS comes with your license and an annual fee. The guys who are offering flat fees all went through that process as well. It probably has some of the lowest barriers to entry out of any industry that generates that much revenue. It's hardly an exclusive club imo.

Symptom of a failing country when a doctor has to take years to qualify for their profession yet any airhead can qualify quickly to be a realtor and out-earn the physician in short order.

[thurmas]

Apparently Sobeys aka Empire group generated $30 billion in revenue this past year.

[Hecate]

Originally Posted by thurmas

Apparently Sobeys aka Empire group generated $30 billion in revenue this past year.

Why do people shop there? It’s so fucking expensive. $18.99 for 8 shitty our compliments frozen hamburger patty’s. Like who’s paying that? Everything is almost double what Walmart charges.

[casper]

Originally Posted by Hecate

Why do people shop there? It’s so fucking expensive. $18.99 for 8 shitty our compliments frozen hamburger patty’s. Like who’s paying that? Everything is almost double what Walmart charges.

In BC they operate under the Safeway or the Thrifty Foods brand.

When Safeway use to have really good meet. After the Sobey's take over that went away. They also stopped baking and instead switched to reheating frozen product.

Thrifty use to be fantastic and very local. Now not so much.

Yup, no idea why they still have customers but they do.

[ssiguy]

I knew Safeway was owned by Sobeys but never knew Thrifty's was.

[ScreamingViking]

Originally Posted by Hecate

Why do people shop there? It’s so fucking expensive. $18.99 for 8 shitty our compliments frozen hamburger patty’s. Like who’s paying that? Everything is almost double what Walmart charges.

Sobeys.

The only time I've shopped there is if it was late -- some stores in this area used to be 24 hours; that changed but many are still open later than other chains -- and if I wanted beer or wine and the local Sobeys was open later than the LCBO.

[casper]

Originally Posted by ssiguy

I knew Safeway was owned by Sobeys but never knew Thrifty's was.

It is an interesting story. Around 2008 or so, the family that owned Thrifty's sold out to Sobey's. They had a few franchise stores that needed to be bought out before the merger. Sobey's progressively over 15 years reduced "Head office" staff in Victoria and many left not liking the culture of being in a big corporation.

That has reversed to an extent and today all the Thrifty and Safeway stores in BC are managed out of Victoria as a separate operating unit.

Many of the independents on Vancouver Island were started up by former Thrifty's store managers or franchises.

Yes, they are expensive relative to the competition.

[GreaterMontréal]

Northvolt is likely to build a C$7B battery plant in a Montreal suburb (Saint-Basile-le-Grand).