Beware of solicitations from brokers Competitive brokers

A resident of Longueuil, in Montérégie, recently sold his home under the influence of a broker who had overvalued his property, and he cannot relocate as he wishes.

• Read also: Buyers forced to lower their expectations

Ricardo Bonnilla was convinced by a real estate broker to sell his house to make a good amount of money.

He recounts what he considers to be perhaps “the biggest mistake of his life”.

Mr. Bonnilla had lived in her house in the Saint-Hubert borough for 15 years. This Nicaraguan of origin immigrated to Quebec in the 1980s to study, work, and start a family. It is also in the small bungalow that she grew. "Everyone's dream, a house, a car, family, and that's it," Bonnilla says.

In a crazy market, many brokers go fishing and solicit clients by dangling them the jackpot if they sell their property quickly.

“Companies who call you, they tell you ''Mr. Bonnilla, you have a plan, a project, and there is someone who can come to see you. This is the dream of your life, you will achieve good things. And you will see that you will not regret,'' he notes.

Mr. Bonnilla therefore opened the door to the broker, who told her what he might have against her home. “''You're going to leave, you're going to find something very good too, you want to live in a condominium, on a smaller scale? It's your life's project.'' I hadn't even thought of doing it. It was not in my plans,” he said.

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The broker found a client even before listing the property on the internet. The broker also told him that this might be the right offer.

He had a purchase offer of $400,000, which he accepted. He thought he could get rid of his small mortgage by buying a modest condo.

After saying yes, he wanted to back out, but he should have paid the commission to the broker.

Then, nothing happened as his broker had led him to believe. "Everything I wanted, in the price range I wanted, it didn't work because if you advertise at $250,000, these condominiums are going to sell for $300,000, $350,000, so I would have burned the capital I had so I could go to another house.”

Finally, Mr. Bonnilla will be renting a small apartment in Rivière-des-Prairies, Montreal, which belongs to his son.

“It hurts me. These are choices that we regret in life. Sometimes it's take it or leave it and I shouldn't have taken it."

The ex-owner warns other owners who might be tempted to do the same. “Sellers, in order to be able to sell, will play with the sensitivity of each person. This is what is dangerous, and for everyone,” he said.