Are You Ready For Your Information To Go Public?

I read the articles, I read the comments, people want information. They want it all. That is the new way of doing business. They want all of the information that real estate agents have access to, and they want it for free, and they want it now. People think they have a right to it. I get it, but it doesn’t necessarily mean that it is right. The question is, do you want to have all of the information out there, while everybody else will have access to your information?

Recently The Toronto Real Estate Board lost an appeal to the competition board, which would allow real estate companies to post your information on websites. What information? All of it. Information regarding the sale of your house, how much you purchased it for, information about the history of your house sales, and information regarding how many purchases or investments you have.

Now many people will say that why is it fair that only real estate agents have access to this information? Well for one thing, we pay for it, but lets just say that the information is released as it is in the U.S., what would exactly happen? One thing that will happen right away is that corporate companies will be able to see what you own, and will be able to sell that information to get more information about you. The next thing that everybody will know is how much you sold or bought your house with. I’m not sure about you, but I don’t want my nosey boss telling me hey, “I saw you own two houses in Toronto and Mississauga” you’re not getting that raise!

Have you heard of Zillow Zestimates, its the worst thing to happen to Real Estate. Its where Zillow a huge corporation, tells people what your house is worth based on public sales information available. Zillow is constantly in court because their Zestimates has under valued a house, and houses sat on the market due to their value given, which doesn’t even know what upgrades or work has been done to the house.

Here is what is the official update regarding this case taken from TREB.

December 21, 2017 — The Federal Court of Appeal has today issued an Order directing a stay of the Competition Tribunal’s Order of June 3, 2016 pending the determination of TREB’s application for leave to appeal that order to the Supreme Court of Canada. Today’s order will ensure that the personal information of home buyers and sellers remains safe while the Supreme Court of Canada decides whether to hear TREB’s appeal.

Let Me Know what you think about your information getting out there? Are you OK with this?