.Maybe someone should inform this B.C. realtor that a picture will always last longer.
Last month, the Real Estate Council of BC fined a realtor in Richmond, B.C., for asking the buyer of a home to keep the realtor’s “sold” sign on the property for an entire year after the sale.
Xinwei (Sylvie) Zhao, of Pan Pacific Paltinum Real Estate Services, was ordered to pay the fine of $2,000 according to “discipline decision” posted by the Real Estate Council of BC.
But how exactly did she get the new homeowner to keep a giant sign on the property for 12 months?
"Without the seller's consent or knowledge, and on the instructions of her team leader, [Zhao] informed the buyer's agent that the buyer's offer would only be presented to, and accepted by, the seller, if the buyer agreed to put a New Coast Realty Sold sign on the property for a period of one year from the possession date," read the document.
According to the consent order, Zhao created an addendum to the buyer's contract that managed to work the year-long sign arrangement into writing. Not surprisingly, the real estate company's managing broker asked Zhao to pull the addendum, but she left it in the sale contract.
"This matter came to the attention of the council Feb. 25, 2016, during its investigation into a telephone complaint to the council made by neighbours of the property about [Wendy Yang's] 'Sold' sign being left on the property for eight months," read the consent order.
"Irrespective of this being an improper way of documenting this agreement between her, [Wendy Yang] and the buyer, she obtained the signature of the buyer only on the addendum, despite it forming part of the contract."
The realtor has accepted a reprimand and agreed to pay $1,500 in enforcement expenses.
However, it's not the worst way to get your name out there in the competitive world of real estate.
