British Columbia · Buyer Report
By the time a listing reaches a consumer portal, other buyers have often had it for a day or more.
That delay is not a conspiracy. Public property portals pull data on a schedule and then process it, which introduces a lag. In a fast Fraser Valley pocket, a day is the difference between viewing a home and reading about it in the sold statistics.
A direct MLS® alert set up by a REALTOR® runs off the board data itself, so you see new and changed listings as they appear. It is free, it takes ten minutes to set up properly, and it is the single most useful thing a buyer can do.
Part one
What a properly built alert does that a portal does not
A direct MLS® alert
Set up by your REALTOR®
- New listings as they hit the board, not on a portal refresh cycle
- Price changes on listings you are already watching
- Back-on-market listings, where a collapsed sale has quietly freed a home up
- Criteria a portal cannot express — a specific catchment, a suite, a south-facing yard, a particular strata
Price drops and back-on-market listings are where much of the actual opportunity sits, and most portals bury both.
A consumer portal
Useful, but not current
- Lags the board data, sometimes by a day or more
- Shows listings that have already sold, for longer than you would think
- Blunt filters — bedroom counts and price bands
- No view of price history or how long a home has genuinely been available
Fine for browsing. Not a search strategy in a market where a week matters.
Part two
Exclusive and pre-market listings, accurately
This is an area where the marketing gets loose, so here is the honest version.
Exclusive listings do exist
Some sellers do not want their home on MLS® — privacy, a tenant, a public profile, a sensitive situation. These are listed with a brokerage but not published to the board, so they never reach any portal.
They are a genuine minority of the market, and the way you hear about one is by being a known, qualified, ready buyer with an agent who is actively connected to other agents.
Coming-soon and pre-market listings
Homes being prepared for market — photos being taken, painting being finished. An agent who knows what you are looking for can sometimes get you in before the listing goes live.
Timing here is real and useful. It is not a secret market; it is a head start of days.
What the rules require
Real estate boards in BC have cooperation and disclosure rules governing off-board listings, and a seller must be advised in writing of the consequences of not publishing to MLS®. Your agent should be able to explain how any off-market property came to them.
If an agent cannot tell you where a “pocket listing” came from, ask again.
What we will not claim
You will see advertising suggesting that half the market sells off-market. We are not going to repeat a number we cannot source. The great majority of residential sales in the Fraser Valley go through MLS®.
The advantage of working with us is speed and information, not access to a hidden parallel market.
Part three
Setting yours up properly
- Get pre-approved firstNot because we ask, but because an alert is useless without a real price range. It also means you can act the same day when something appears.
- Be specific about geographyNot “Surrey” — the neighbourhood, the catchment, the side of the highway. Vague criteria produce noise, and noise gets ignored.
- Say what actually mattersA suite for rental income, a flat yard, no stairs, a particular school, a strata that allows pets or rentals. These are the filters a portal cannot handle and a person can.
- Include price drops and back-on-marketMost buyers only ask for new listings. Both of these are where the negotiable properties are.
- Tell us what you dislike about what we sendThe first two weeks of feedback is what makes the alert accurate. An alert nobody tunes becomes an email nobody opens.
Questions we get asked
Does this cost anything?
No. Setting up and running an MLS® alert is free and there is no obligation attached to it. We would rather you were well informed than in a hurry.
Do I have to sign anything to get the alerts?
No. To be represented by us as a client there is an agency agreement, and we will explain it — but you do not need to sign anything to receive listing alerts.
How often will I hear from you?
As often as properties match, and no more. If you want a daily digest rather than instant notifications, say so. If you want to pause for a month, say that too.
What if I am 12 months away from buying?
Then it is the ideal time to start. A year of watching your target area teaches you what things are actually worth, which is exactly what you need when it is time to act quickly.
Get set up on a proper search
Tell us the area, the price range and the two or three things that genuinely matter to you, and we will build the alert. Free, no agreement, and easy to stop.
Call 778‑234‑2000 Prefer to write? Send a message insteadPlease note: MLS® is a registered trademark owned by The Canadian Real Estate Association. Listing availability and board rules change. This page is general information about British Columbia and Canadian rules, current at the time of writing, and is not legal, tax, financial or mortgage advice. Figures and programs change — confirm anything you intend to rely on with the relevant authority or a qualified professional. Sonny Bhinder is a licensed REALTOR®, not a lawyer, accountant or mortgage broker. Not intended to solicit properties currently listed for sale, or to cause a breach of an existing agency relationship.