My Lewsiville and Valleyview real estate market report to the end of April shows a strong increase in the number home of sales from 2007.

In the Lewisville and Valleyview area of Moncton there are currently 33 detached and 7 semi-detached homes for sale priced from $95,000 to $296,900.

These statistics point to an active local Moncton market so if you'd like to find a home or sell your property,
 please call me - 383-3085.

Matthew Estabrooks
"Your Local Expert"

Month	Average List Price	Average Sale Price	Sale to List Price	Average List Duration	# Sales
APR-2008	131117	127142	97%	111 days	12
MAR-2008	135329	128487	95%	80 days	7
FEB-2008	124925	117576	94%	69 days	8
JAN-2008	132400	131450	99%	67 days	2
Averages:	130514	125125	96 %	89 days	29

Month	Average List Price	Average Sale Price	Sale to List Price	Average List Duration	# Sales
APR-2007	127650	122763	96%	61 days	8
MAR-2007	156100	151333	97%	104 days	3
FEB-2007	117820	111500	95%	72 days	5
JAN-2007	108800	104667	96%	58 days	3
Averages:	126579	121453	96 %	70 days	19

(These figures include both existing and new construction)

---

Matthew Estabrooks is a licensed independent real estate agent in Moncton, New Brunswick

MatthewEstabrooks.com

Moncton-Real-Estate.com

The word "agent" casually is thrown around in the real estate sales business. Everyone with any sort of real estate sales license calls themselves an "agent", even though their license usually says something different. The fact is, many REALTORs who call themselves agents are misrepresenting their role.

Dictionary.com's definition of agent is "a person or business authorized to act on another's behalf". In my jurisdiction, New Brunswick, Canada; the license required to "trade in real estate" (enter into agency agreements) is called an "Agent's License". Many other jurisdictions call this type of license a "Broker's License". This license may be held by an individual or a corporation. In my jurisdiction, 98% of Agents are corporations. In these cases the Agent must employ a "Manager Licensee" to oversee the day to day business and salespeople employed by the corporation. The salespeople employed by the Agent are "Salesperson Licensees", this is the type of license that 95% of REALTORs in my jurisdiction have.

So, why is a salesperson that calls himself/herself an "Agent" misrepresenting their role? Simple, they have no capacity to enter into an agency relationship; only the "Agent" or "Broker" has that capacity. A listing client or buyer client are not represented by the salesperson, they are represented by the agent or broker, depending on licensing in that jurisdiction. If the salesperson leaves the company, what happens to that agency relationship? The seller or buyer remains a client of the Agent (Broker) and the salesperson is subtracted from the equation, because the relationship is with the Agency or Brokerage.

I don't know exactly when this misnomer began, but it leads to confusion about agency representation by both the public and real estate licensees. Example:

I recently had a buyer client that had initially contacted the listing office of a property he was interested in. He was put in contact with the "Duty Agent" (misnomer), not the listing salesperson, who had subsequently shown the property to him. Later he contacted me about the property, after asking him about his relationship with the other firm, and concluding that no agency relationship existed, I offered my services as his buyer agent. We wrote an offer that didn't result in a contract. When talking with my client a week or so later, he mentioned that he had been contacted by the duty salesperson to see if he was still interested in the property. He informed the salesperson that he had placed an offer through me. Upon hearing this, the salesperson made an offhand comment implying that my actions were underhanded. Thankfully, because I had properly explained agency to my client, he knew that I had acted in his best interests and that I had not done anything unethical.  

Did this salesperson believe that they had a buyer agency relationship with this customer, even though the firm they worked for was the listing agent of the property? It would seem so. Is the sole reason because of the misuse of the term "Agent"? No, but it doesn't help.

Agency is a concept that many find difficult to grasp and understand, the number of court cases and discipline matters relating to representation is a testament to this. If licensed professionals find it this difficult to understand, how is a member of the public expected to? Licensees are compounding the problem by giving themselves titles that confuse their role.

I am one of the few individuals licensed as an Agent in my jurisdiction. I am a real estate Agent. Licensed salespeople are not.