Local realtors support changes to real estate industry

Jun 30, 2016 | 2:25 PM

KAMLOOPS — The provincial government is stepping in to change the way the real estate industry is regulated. 

Christy Clark announced yesterday, June 29, that the real estate sector had lost the trust of the public. As a result, the province will be hiring a new superintendent of real estate. 

The president of the Kamloops and District Real Estate Association, Katherine Rutherford, says she is in support of any measures that increase consumer confidence and raise the level of professionalism within the industry. 

Rutherford agrees that there has been widespread contract flipping by realtors in the Lower Mainland, but that hasn’t been an issue in Kamloops. 

“We’re just as shocked at the stories that came out as the public was and we’re really happy that measures are being taken to get rid of some of those bad apples and to increase our confidence again with the consumers,” Rutherford said. 

“You know, Christy Clark did say that the majority of realtors are hard-working and ethical, and I really like to think … that describes our Kamloops realtors, because they are hard-working, very ethical realtors here.”

Rutherford adds that one regulation which could affect the Kamloops real estate market is that single agents will no longer be able to act for both the seller and buyer in a transaction. 

“I have spoke with our MLAs about that,” Rutherford said, “because we do have smaller pockets, you know, where there is areas where there is only one realtor and those realtors typically they’ve done a very good job of representing both the buyer and seller. There’s a very ethical, proper way to do it. The fact that some realtors haven’t done that properly in the Lower Mainland has now changed the rules for all of us.”