John William Wade (source: Facebook)
Alberta’s real estate regulator has revoked the licence of Calgary agent John William Wade following serious misconduct findings.
The Real Estate Council of Alberta (RECA) announced this week that Wade’s licence to trade in real estate was cancelled effective June 11, and he is barred from reapplying for two years.
A RECA hearing panel made the decision after it found Wade violated multiple sections of the province’s Real Estate Act Rules.
In addition to the cancellation, Wade was ordered to pay four fines totaling $25,000 and $12,070 to cover investigation costs. He must also complete required educational courses before he can apply for a licence again, no sooner than June 11, 2027.
“The vast majority of RECA licensees adhere to high standards of professionalism and integrity,” said RECA in a statement.
“The panel recognized Wade’s very serious unprofessional conduct and breach of the rules on multiple occasions. It is of the utmost importance to RECA that the public has confidence in our regulated professionals, as a profession’s most valuable asset is its collective reputation and the confidence it inspires.”
Wade was found to have breached four rules:
- He violated his fiduciary duties to clients;
- Discouraged a client from seeking expert advice;
- Took part in fraudulent activities connected to his services;
- And failed to enter into a written service agreement with clients.
At the time the misconduct occurred, Wade was registered with Irealty Calgary Inc., operating as Re/Max Irealty Innovations. When his licence was cancelled, he was working as a real estate associate with Greater Property Group Inc.
The full written decision from the panel will be posted publicly at reca.ca once available.
Consumers are reminded to verify the licensing status of real estate professionals through RECA’s online database.
Courtney Zwicker is a digital reporter and associate editor for REM. Based in Atlantic Canada, she has over a decade of experience covering daily business news.
He violated his fiduciary duties to clients:
Have you ever cited a single stat from your mls to a Buyer and not informed them of the pages of footnotes that have been written on them the last 40 years?
Have you ever pretended House Prices change in a month even though you cannot prove it?
If you have you have just violated your fiduciary duty to your Buyer Client.
Discouraged a client from seeking expert advice;
Does your Regulator require you to recommend your client seeks outside independent advice before signing anything you put before them?
Do you always risk losing a deal or getting a signature by making that recommendation?
Took part in fraudulent activities connected to his services;
When your client tells you they are using a mortgage broker do you immediately check their income documents to be sure they are really qualified to borrow enough to buy the home. Have you ever told a seller or listing agent your clients were qualified without you personally verifying their qualification was not based on a fraud?
And failed to enter into a written service agreement with clients.
I think few realtors are foolish enough to try to pull this one in 2025.
Do you have your APS memorized? Can you quote each clause verbatim? Can and do you explain each of them in a manner that your client can give informed consent when agreeing to them?
Just a thought.
If you can’t are you really filling your simplest of fiduciary duty to your client? Are you
Just addressing a couple of your points here Ross…
Your mention of having the buyers seek outside advice before signing anything… is at the very least cumbersome…
… here in BC they have implemented (i believe it’s a 3 or 4 day ‘cooling off’ period that allows the buyer to back out of the deal for pretty much any reason)… so that would be the time to take maybe a harder look at the documentation..
Not sure if same applies in Alberta…
Also… many years ago when I was a licensed Realtor… you’re right we used to sit the buyer down… and make sure that they could afford to buy a house (who wants to waist time and money driving an unqualified buyer around)… but what I’ve noticed recently (from outside the industry) is that clients are generally just passed onto the broker to let them do their ‘magic’… so I believe that there is less expectation of the Realtor to be also a financial expert… not like the old days lol.
How do.you know ow when agents discourage potential buyers from visiting for sale.by owner properties?
Oh you have no idea how shady of a character this guy is and the others he does business with – finally!!!! But for only two years? Criminals get away with everything
Lol. Realtors doing realtor things…