Resale Homes
It is important to understand that in British Columbia the person you hire to assist you to purchase your home must be licensed as either a real estate salesperson or a real estate agent. In every real estate transaction there is a seller and a buyer. A real estate licensee may be employed as an agent for the seller, as an agent for the buyer, or as an agent for both, called a Dual Agent. You need to know who you are speaking with and who they are working for. For complete information on agency you may go to www.recbc.org.ca.
New Homes
Developers selling their own project are exempt from licensing. In essence when they are selling their own homes, they do not need to be licensed. However, the person that the Developer hires to sell their homes needs to be employed by them. In some cases, the Developer uses a resale company to sell their homes. In this case they need to be licensed.
So the question is, do you need to be represented by a real estate agent when buying a new home? The answer is no and in many cases, it is preferable not to. The simplest answer to this is as follows: the person selling the Developer’s homes is professionally hired to sell the Developer’s home and only the Developer’s home. This means that they are completely knowledgeable with what they are selling. A resale agent on the other hand may not know anything about the project so they may be of little help.
