With the Town of Huntsville working to dispose of some of its surplus land and buildings it no longer wants to own, staff brought a recommendation to the November 30 General Committee meeting that a Request for Proposal (RFP) be issued for a Realtor of Record.
Of late, most of the sales were by public tender handled by staff with legal support, with a few larger commercial properties being handled by a licensed real estate agent, according to the staff report.
“It really is something that should be handled by people who are educated and licensed to do so,” said the Town’s CAO, Denise Corry. “We recommend going out for RFP for a Realtor of Record so that when we do decide to make those choices, it’s an easy decision who is going to be doing that for us.”
The report presented to committee cited reducing the burden on municipal staff, reducing costs associated with legal services, placing the municipality in a better position to obtain fair market value for Town-owned land, providing consistency to the process of divesting lands, and ensuring value for taxpayers’ dollars by providing efficient and timely marketing and transactions as the advantages of identifying a Realtor of Record.
Of Huntsville’s neighbouring municipalities, Lake of Bays, Muskoka Lakes and Georgian Bay do not have a Realtor of Record, Gravenhurst does for a single purpose base only, and Bracebridge had not responded as of the meeting, according to Corry. “We would be the only municipality at this time to have a Realtor of Record.”
Huntsville has had Realtors of Record during past terms of council; most recently Coldwell Banker Thompson was appointed in 2001.
Corry added that criteria for responses to the RFP would include commission and information on how the realtor planned to market Town lands.
In response to a question from Councillor Bob Stone about the ability of a Realtor to sell a building the size of the Waterloo Summit Centre for the Environment, Corry said, “We are seeking both a commercial realtor and residential property realtor. So if council should decide to dispose of the Waterloo Summit Centre, we would have someone qualified who could sell a commercial building.”
Committee approved the recommendation; it will go to Council for ratification.
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