The Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) recently announced the official rollout of the REALTOR.ca open offer system. The new program will provide real-time offer tracking on a property’s REALTOR.ca listing page, allowing realtors and prospective buyers to gain more insight into competing offers on a property. However, the amount of information displayed about the offers will vary depending on both seller preferences and location.
The availability of offer information varies from province to province since real estate is regulated at the provincial level. According to a CREA spokesperson, “It will only be available on listings where Realtors, by way of their seller’s consent, opt to display offer details on REALTOR.ca, as permitted by provincial regulations.” For example, the Real Estate Brokers Act in Ontario prohibits realtors from revealing the dollar amount of competing offers, but in British Columbia, this information can be made available.
The open offer tracking system also offers voluntary opt-in levels of transparency via a partnership with Australian property technology company Openn. In June, Eric Bryant, Openn’s Director of Operations for North America, explained that sellers won't be required to reveal the offer price amounts on their property, but they will have the option to do so. Openn is thrilled to launch in partnership with CREA, helping Canadians navigate the challenges of the property transaction process through near real-time data tracking and feedback.
The program requires that all offers be submitted by a realtor who will have to specifically sign up for Openn’s service. This Canada-wide rollout follows what Openn describes in a news release as “a successful pilot program in 2022 in select Canadian markets.”
Interestingly, the pilot program didn't use actual live listings because the product wasn't ready through most of the pilot stage. Openn used a testing box to get feedback while the product was being advanced. The company didn't provide details on which specific boards were involved, but noted that it was a small group of agents who were involved.
In a REALTOR.ca blog post dated January 15, 2023, the CREA-owned website said the pilot program would be rolling out “over the next few weeks." When STOREYS asked CREA when and where the pilot occurred, the company directed them to speak with Openn as CREA doesn't "have that information." “From CREA’s end, we were more concerned with integration with REALTOR.ca and provincial regulations (e.g. what details of the offer can be displayed in which province),” the CREA spokesperson said.
This new REALTOR.ca open offer system will have a significant impact on the real estate landscape, creating more transparency throughout the entire bidding process. It will be interesting to see how sellers and realtors utilize this new system, and how it will affect the overall real estate market.
In conclusion, this new REALTOR.ca open offer system offers a unique opportunity for realtors and prospective buyers alike to gain more transparency in the bidding process. While the amount of information displayed about offers will vary depending on seller preferences and location, this program provides an excellent starting point for a more efficient and equitable real estate landscape.
My thoughts:
Currently, there already exists some transparency among REALTOR’s when it comes to Offers. Buyers, through their agent, who are/have shown interest in a specific property are informed of the number of offers that are currently being reviewed. This new system would provide the sellers the ability to extend that information to all potential buyers by allowing the use of Openn’s service which will be linked to Realtor.ca (essentially allowing the Listing Agent to update the MLS with the total offer count). Additionally, sellers will have he ability to divulge details of the contents of the offers this way as well. While I feel that the additional transparency is greatly appreciated by buyers, who are ultimately looking to not over pay for a property, this does bring up consideration of how helpful the transparency is to a seller. By divulging details of an offer to buyers or potential buyers are you hindering the maximum potential value that you can obtain for your seller? I would tend to think so.
I do feel that this is a step in the right direction but am cautious on how it might effect sellers bottom line.