Hello from Kitchener-Waterloo Ontario

**RC21** · 01-14-2009, 04:13 PM

Hello, hope you are all doing well!
I'm a relatively new agent serving Kitchener, Waterloo and Cambridge in Ontario, Canada.
I'm interested in learning from others and sharing what I have learned. I love discussing sustainable living solutions, and housing development strategies.
Talk to you all soon,
Rebecca Sargent

**donrock** · 01-14-2009, 05:59 PM

Hello Rebecca welcome to the Real Estate Forum. Just out of curiosity how does the real estate system up there differ from ours here in the lower 48? If it even does.
Good luck,
donrock

**RC21** · 01-14-2009, 06:17 PM

There are a few differences that I defintely noticed from reading some of the forums and blogs. A lot of the legalities and regulations are different.
We have a national "do not call" list that limits us doing cold calling or phone sales. We also have a "do not contact" after expiry on our listing contracts, which means we cannot contact most expired listings.

Also, I noticed a major difference in rental rules-- we cannot have "no
pets" or "no children" rental units. We cannot ask for deposits or first and last, only for one term of rent (one month or week's rent). There are definitely a LOT of differences in the rental market.

We are also not experiencing the same subprime mortgage crisis that you guys did (less than 5% of our mortgages) and less than 0.26% of Canadian households are falling three months or more behind on their mortgage payments. We are experiencing a lull because of the current financial situation, but no where near as severe as yours it seems.

Also we are required to check ID and keep detailed records on all transactions- of every party and financial exchange, through our government FINTRAC regulations (Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada).

That's part of why I joined this forum. I'm interested to see the difference between the ways we handle clients, and the legalities involved. There are too many differences I think to write here!