Real Estate Professional Services: find professionals

Real estate professional services covers residential and commercial real estate agents, property managers, commercial property managers, appraisers and home inspectors.

An agent represents you when you buy, sell or lease property. Property managers look after rental properties for owners: finding tenants, collecting rent and arranging maintenance. Appraisers give an independent opinion of a property’s value, often for a lender, and home inspectors report on a home’s condition before you buy.

In Canada, real estate brokerages and agents are licensed provincially, and each provincial regulator offers a way to check a registration. Ask how an agent is paid and which services that covers, and read any agreement carefully before you sign it. Check the length of the agreement, what it costs to end it early and which fees are due if the deal falls through, and compare more than one agent before you commit. LokalMatch doesn’t recommend any agent or firm.