Your Agent and You: Surviving the Canadian Real Estate Game

Ashley Thomson is a full librarian at Laurentian University and co-editor or co-author of nine books, most recently Margaret Atwood: A Reference Guide, 1988-2005.

I have worked with and known numerous real estate agents, and they have
all struck me as honorable professionals. Apparently that has not been
the experience of Lauer and Murray, who feel the time is ripe for an
exposé about “unethical and self-serving agents.” Presumably the
publisher also feels a market exists for this type of book.

I cannot fault the advice they give. The authors, who write with an
easy style that carries the reader along, have exemplary qualifications.
The topics they cover include handling first encounters (how agents try
to hook in your business), choosing an agent, house hunting with an
agent, handling the offer to purchase, listing with an agent,
negotiating offers, and even going it alone.

Amid their search for sleaze, the authors do admit that “there are
thousands of competent and highly professional agents whose business
ethics are above reproach.” My only problem with this book is that
this is the only kind I’ve ever met.