Sell without an agent, or sell directly

A brokerage contract

Real-estate brokerage in Quebec is regulated by the OACIQ. A broker works under a brokerage contract. The contract says whether it is exclusive, how long it lasts, and what the remuneration is. That remuneration is whatever you and the brokerage agree. There is no single legal percentage, and this page will not invent a “usual” one. In a listed sale you generally pay that remuneration out of the price. You also host visits, keep the house presentable, and wait through conditions, which often include an inspection and a financing clause.

The broker’s work has a use when you want the widest search for a buyer and you are willing to do what that search requires. It is a poor fit when the house is full, occupied, behind on a hypothec, or tied to a date you already have. Those are the files the other pages on this site describe.

Selling on your own is still a sale to a stranger

A sale without a broker — à vendre sans courtier — means you draft or receive a promise to purchase, you answer the questions, you decide which conditions to accept, and you still sit at the notary. You may still face an inspection and a request to repair or reduce the price. You have saved the commission and kept the work. For some people that trade is worth it. It is not the same as one buyer who already accepts the house as it stands.

A direct sale to Bruce

You are dealing with the buyer, not listing with a brokerage. There is no commission because there is no broker in the middle. There is no inspection. The deed can exclude the legal warranty, and the notary explains that clause before you sign. You choose the closing date. You can leave the contents. The price is the offer Bruce makes after he talks with you. It is not automatically the same number a bidding war might produce, and this page will not claim that it is. People choose it because of what they do not have to do.

In ordinary Quebec practice the buyer asks a notary to prepare the deed and pays that notary’s fee. The notary searches the title, often asks for a certificate of location and says if the one you have is too old, adjusts the taxes, pays out a hypothec if the price covers it, and publishes the deed at the land register. Transfer duties are the buyer’s bill to the municipality, on that municipality’s scale. None of those steps disappear because you skipped a broker. They are the sale. The part you skip is everything before them.