Posts Tagged ‘posed as a Realtor’

Protect Yourself from Real Estate Scams

Wednesday, August 20th, 2014

Protect your home

In the news a few days ago was the story of Derek Johnson, a man who allegedly posed as a Realtor, under an assumed name, to illegally obtain the title of a home in foreclosure. It reportedly cost the victim several thousand dollars, over the course of more than half a year, to reclaim his home’s title. Johnson has been fined by the Real Estate Council of Alberta $50,000 for posing as a Realtor; this is not the first time Johnson has been in trouble with the Council.

This story serves as a reminder to anyone seeking to engage in a real estate transaction that the licence status of any real estate professional or brokerage may be easily verified through the Real Estate Council of Alberta’s website. Using the public search, you can instantly confirm that the professional with whom you intend to do business is indeed in good standing with the RECA.

Realtors need to be licenced by RECA, and to uphold the organization’s standards of conduct to maintain that licence.

There’s a plethora of other useful information on the site as well, so I encourage you to take a few minutes to surf through it if you are considering entering the market as either a buyer or seller.

On a side note, the Calgary Home + Design Show is coming September 18-21, and I have a promo code that’ll save $5 off your tickets if you buy before August 26: click here, and enter the code SAVEFIVE.

The data included on this website is deemed to be reliable, but is not guaranteed to be accurate by the Calgary Real Estate Board. The trademarks REALTOR®, REALTORS® and the REALTOR® logo are controlled by The Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) and identify real estate professionals who are members of CREA. Used under license.