MONTREAL — The Château Westmount Square penthouse for sale has white marble floors, a spiral staircase and views of downtown Montreal and the St. Lawrence River from the ensuite bathrooms.
But instead of a high-powered Westmount real estate broker answering questions about the listing, it’s owner Robert Bellini giving details about the 3,400-square-foot condo, in between running a Montreal health-care company.
“Can I get back to you?� the 33-year-old CEO asked a reporter. “I’m just walking into a meeting.�
Priced at $3 million, Bellini’s two-floor apartment is now the most expensive condo in the country ever listed with the national for-sale-by-owner company DuProprio, which operates as ComFree outside of Quebec. The highest-priced condo ever sold with DuProprio was a $1.3-million penthouse in Montreal’s downtown Ville Marie borough, which changed hands last year.
Despite a limited record in selling high-end homes, Power Corp.-backed DuProprio is citing Bellini’s condo as proof that its do-it-yourself formula is expanding not just geographically — with the 2010 acquisition of four businesses in Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta — but across properties of different price points.
“This shows that anyone can sell with DuProprio,� said Nicolas Bouchard, co-founder of the Quebec City-based company.
While DuProprio has made inroads in strong-selling, moderately-priced areas like Rosemont and Villeray, the for-sale-by-owner service is a rarity in tony Westmount, which remains the turf of traditional real estate brokers.
“I’ve never really seen DuProprio in Westmount; this does not happen very often,� said broker Joseph Montanaro, who specializes in high-end properties with Sotheby’s International Realty Canada. “It (DuProprio) may work for certain $200,000 listings. But it is not a vehicle to move high-end properties.�
Wealthy homeowners are reluctant to sell their own houses because of time and privacy concerns.
Bellini acknowledged his decision to show his own condo surprised many of his friends, even with the possibility of saving up to $150,000 in commissions.
“I’m getting a lot of different reactions,� said Bellini, who is willing to pay a standard commission to a buyer’s broker. “Some people think I’m crazy to put in the time and effort. Other people are telling me to go for it.�
The most expensive house ever listed with DuProprio — a $10.8-million property in Ontario — failed to sell, although the service has several empty lots and revenue buildings for sale for more than $1 million.
Montanaro said he has had three cases in the last 12 months where owners of houses worth about $1 million approached him to sell their homes, after they failed to get any serious offers on their own.
Bellini’s efforts to sell his own home come at a time when real estate sales in Canada’s largest cities are slowing, with Montreal recently shifting to a buyer’s market for condos for the first time in 15 years. Despite dipping 11 per cent below the same month in 2012, Montreal resales in April were historically strong, even as active listing rose 16 per cent, Greater Montreal Real Estate Board data published this week show.