Trust in Real Estate Services Act (TRESA) came into effect December 1, 2023. There are many changes, but for today I’d like to focus on 2 changes. The first one is that Ontario will now allow open biding. The seller may choose to allow in a multiple offer situation bids to be be shared with others. The comments on this seem to be both positive and negative. I see it as a positive. Sometimes buyers will bow out of a multiple offer situation as they can’t handle the stress and don’t want to overpay. As a Realtor when you have a client successfully bid you wonder how much more did we offer. Did we offer too much! Sometimes, the other Realtor will say you did well! Your offer was correct. But now you’d be able to offer just enough to get the home.
The other change is representation. Where a brokerage represents the seller and the buyer, in the past the Realtor would then act as a facilitator providing information but not advice. Now a designated agent can provide the needed advice.
