A different approach to finding and buying real estate in
St. Catharines, Niagara Falls, and
the Niagara Peninsula
Duncan Pollock
Broker of Record
Duncan Pollock Real Estate Broker, Brokerage
427 Gate Street
Niagara-on-the-Lake,
Ontario, Canada L0S 1J0
Tel: (905) 468-3154
Cellular: (905) 704-9037
Fax: (905) 468-3812
e-mail: duncanpollock@sympatico.ca
Important: Please
note that I changed my e-mail address with effect from November
3 2007.
(If you tried sending any message to the old address (dsp.pru@sympatico.ca) from October 29th last year onwards, it will NOT have reached me and, if you don't mind, needs to be resent to duncanpollock@sympatico.ca )
(If you tried sending any message to the old address (dsp.pru@sympatico.ca) from October 29th last year onwards, it will NOT have reached me and, if you don't mind, needs to be resent to duncanpollock@sympatico.ca )
Its purpose is to point out that I now act as an Exclusive Buyer Broker -- which means that I no longer list property but work solely for buyers.
It also explains that I can save you time and money and offer you a personalized service that's decidedly different from what you can expect from someone else.
Allow me, if you will, to run through the idea as follows.
1. Several problems face you when you're looking at properties in today's real estate market:
a) The countless ads, websites, and lawn signs you see aren't particularly focused on what you're looking for. Rather, you're faced with a need to go through a process of elimination that involves numerous phone calls, e-mails, and showings related to places that don't suit your needs or fit in with your budget.
Thus, you can waste a great deal of time because, at most, you're exposed to scattered snapshots of what's available instead of the complete picture and, least of all, one that's zeroed in on your exact requirements.
b) You may end up paying more for a property than you need to do or, worse still, more than it is truly worth. Asking prices are just that: asking prices -- and, by the nature of things, they aren't always as keenly set as you may hope they are.
Indeed, unless you have access to what's called a Comparative Market Analysis, you're dependent on nothing more than an intelligent guess as to what you should pay for a property that appeals to you.
c) You also won't necessarily be told what's wrong with any property you look at. Instead, the emphasis will be on everything that's right, with, at best, the fault and flaws left for you to notice or raise concerns about. In fact, if you're dealing with a listing agent or any saleperson who's working for the seller (which is the assumption you need to make unless you've arranged things differently), you are definitely at some risk. As the law puts it: The sale of land (with some exceptions) does not imply any promises of quality or reasonable fitness for a particular purpose.
2. Fighting words?
Undoubtedly so, but they really only reflect the reasoning that underpins what's known as the Buyer Agency idea -- and, in my case, its ultimate version, the services of an Exclusive Buyer Broker.
The key point of this approach is to treat you and not the seller as a client -- in other words, to look after your best interests in contrast to the traditional (and still generally common) view that sees you as a customer. Or, as I'm fond of putting it: the objective is to get you the most house for the money -- which is what you're entitled to -- as opposed to getting the most money for the house -- which is what the seller hopes is going to happen.
3. A more detailed account of how and why you can benefit is provided in the following pages
Getting the most for your money
How the real estate industry is slanted in favour
of its sellers rather than its buyers.
What you can do to ensure a more level playing field.
What a Buyer Agent does
How you can get at the whole truth and nothing but the truth.
How you can benefit by becoming a client instead of a customer.
The Buyer Agency Agreement
How you can be sure of having your best interests looked after.
What you are asked to do in return.
4. In effect, what you can expect from me comes down to the following:
** I'll do a thoroughgoing search to identify all the properties that could meet your needs -- regardless of what you've noticed while driving around, perusing the ads, or browsing the web.
** I'll make sure you know the true worth of any property that interests you, based on a Comparative Market Analysis of it.
** I'll act as your Buyer Agent -- which ensures that you'll get the care and consideration you deserve to have.
** I'll serve you in my role as an Exclusive Buyer Broker -- which means that I'll look at the entire market on your behalf without any preference for a given agent or company's listings.
and perhaps best of all ...
** I am not expecting you to pay me for all this. Instead, when you make a purchase I'll be compensated by a share in the commission the seller pays to the listing agent.
5. Serviced areas: All locations in the Niagara Region, including St. Catharines, Niagara Falls, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Fort Erie, Pelham, Vineland, Welland, and Port Colborne.
6. Range of services: Purchase and lease of residential, agricultural, commercial, industrial, and investment properties.
7. To round things out, you may find it useful to look at
three other pages:
Who am I?
My qualifications and experience.
Additional information
Finding a home anywhere, arranging a mortgage, the ins and outs of home inspection, legal considerations and closing costs, regional and municipal facts and figures, commercial real estate, etc.
Of this, that, and the other ...
A collection of websites I've run across at various times. Most are real estate related. A few are not.
However, they all contain information you may find interesting and helpful.
Any questions? Something not clear? Need to know more? Just click here to e-mail me.
