Open Bidding in Ontario Real Estate: What It Actually Means for Buyers and Sellers
Open bidding became legal in Ontario in December 2023 under TRESA changes. Platforms like Final Offer let buyers see competing offers in real time, replacing blind bidding’s information gap. Data from Final Offer’s US operations shows listings sold at 112% of list price versus 97% for traditional agents in the same market (Source: Final Offer, DC Metro). Blind bidding remains legal — open bidding is now an alternative sellers can choose.
I had Nathan Dart on Supply and Demand — he’s the Senior VP of Growth at Final Offer, one of the first open bidding platforms to launch in Ontario after the TRESA changes made it legal in December 2023. Nathan’s based in Maryland, has been in real estate for over 20 years, and his family is deep in the business. He’s not a tech founder who decided to “disrupt” real estate. He’s an agent who got tired of the same transparency problems that every agent and client in Canada deals with.
This conversation changed how I think about the offer process. Not because I didn’t know blind bidding had problems — I’ve been on both sides of those problems for years. But because the solution is now actually here, and it works differently than most people assume.
The problem with blind bidding — from the inside
Here’s what happens in a traditional multiple-offer situation in Ontario. A house lists at $1.1 million. Twenty offers come in. As the listing agent, I present all twenty to my seller. Maybe three of them are genuinely competitive — the rest are lowball or have conditions that don’t work. The seller picks the best one. Everyone else goes home not knowing what they lost to.
Now here’s the part that bothers me: that buyer who offered $1.25 million? They find out two days later the house sold for $1.3 million. They would have gone to $1.305 million. They lost by $5,000 and never had a chance to respond.
And on the seller side — the agent who listed at $1.1 million to “create competition” might actually be using those lowball offers as leverage against the serious buyers. The buyers don’t know what they’re competing against. The seller doesn’t know if the agent is manufacturing urgency or if there’s genuine demand.
Nobody in this scenario has full information. The agent with the most experience wins, not necessarily the buyer with the best offer or the seller with the best outcome. That’s the core problem.
What the NAR settlement actually changed
Nathan and I talked about the big US commission lawsuit — the $418 million NAR settlement. There’s been a ton of clickbait about it: “Commissions are going down!” “You no longer have to pay an agent!” “The end of 6%!”
Most of that is noise. Here’s what actually happened:
What changed: Agents in the US can no longer advertise the buyer agent co-op commission on the MLS. That’s it. The commission is still negotiable (it always was), agents are still needed, and the workaround is literally one extra click — check the listing agent’s website.
Canada is already ahead: In Ontario, both buyer and seller sign documents that disclose exactly what every agent is being paid. The transparency that the US lawsuit was trying to create already exists here. The direct legal impact on Canada is minimal.
What it means culturally: The push for transparency in real estate is accelerating everywhere. Consumers are demanding it. And agents who resist transparency have to ask themselves — what are they afraid of?
“If you have to ask yourself why are certain agents so resistant to transparency — what do they have to be afraid of?”
How Final Offer actually works — the three price tools
This is where it gets interesting. Final Offer isn’t a pure auction — it’s a negotiation platform. There’s a difference, and it matters.
An auction is simple: highest bid wins. But real estate transactions have nuance — conditions, closing dates, financing terms. A pure auction can’t handle that. Final Offer keeps the agent in the loop so the full complexity of a real transaction can be negotiated transparently.
The seller committed price is the part that solves the blind bidding problem. Once an offer triggers it, the clock starts. Every buyer watching the property can see offers coming in — price and terms — and decide whether to compete. No guessing. No “I would have gone $5,000 higher if I’d known.”
And offers below the seller committed price? They show up as “proposed” — the seller sees them, the listing agent sees them, but they don’t trigger the open window. No obligation. This protects sellers from being forced into a transparent process at a price they’d never accept.
Why this isn’t about replacing agents
Some open offer platforms let you bypass agents entirely — FSBO-style with a bidding interface. Final Offer requires agents on both sides. Nathan was direct about why:
“Do you really want no safeguards, no regulatory agency overlooking the transaction? I want to make sure that the people who are bidding on my property are represented by people who have an interest in making sure that the transaction is legitimate.”
I agree with this completely. The agent’s job isn’t to hide information — it’s to advise, protect, and negotiate. An open platform doesn’t eliminate the need for expertise. It eliminates the ability to use information asymmetry as a crutch.
Good agents — the ones who actually know their market, who advise honestly, who negotiate based on skill rather than secrecy — benefit from transparency. It’s the agents selling 1.8 houses a year who have something to worry about.
From order-taker to negotiator
Nathan made a point that stuck with me. For too long, agents have been “order takers” — list the house, sit back, receive offers, present the best one to the seller. That’s not negotiation. That’s administration.
“Final Offer shifts us from being an order taker to a negotiator. We can now position ourselves to make and create the opportunity for sellers to get the ultimate goal they want to achieve at the very best price and the very best terms.”
With transparent tools, the listing agent actually has to understand what the seller values — is it price? Closing timeline? Clean conditions? — and build a strategy around it. The platform makes that strategy visible and executable, not just theoretical.
And the results speak for themselves: Nathan’s listings averaged 112% of list price using Final Offer, compared to 97% for the average agent in the DC Metro market. That’s a 15-percentage-point gap on the same properties in the same market. The data makes the case.
The underpricing problem this solves
If you’ve bought or sold in the GTA in the last decade, you know the game. List at $999,000. Hold offers until Tuesday. Get 15 bids. Sell for $1.3 million. The buyer who “won” overpaid relative to what they needed to, and the buyers who lost never had a real chance to compete.
With a seller committed price, underpricing becomes a strategy with guardrails. You can list aggressively to generate traffic — but you’ve set a floor that protects the seller and a transparent window that gives buyers a fair shot. The market discovers the price in real time, with everyone watching.
That’s what price discovery actually looks like. Not an agent’s educated guess. Not a seller’s emotional attachment. The market telling you what your home is worth — transparently, with competing buyers making real offers with real money.
What this means for Ontario
Open bidding platforms became legal in Ontario in December 2023 under the TRESA changes. Adoption is still early — most transactions still use the traditional closed process. But the direction is clear. Consumers want transparency. The regulatory framework now supports it. And the data from markets where it’s been used shows better outcomes for sellers.
I’m using Final Offer on my listings. If you’re selling and want to understand how the open offer process works — or if you’re buying and want to know what you’re actually competing against — I’m happy to walk you through it.
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Frequently Asked Questions
What is open bidding in real estate?
Open bidding (also called open offers or transparent bidding) is a real estate offer process where buyers can see competing offers in real time. Unlike traditional blind bidding — where buyers submit offers without knowing what others have offered — open bidding platforms show the number, price, and terms of competing offers. Ontario legalized open offer platforms in December 2023 under TRESA (Trust in Real Estate Services Act) changes.
How does the Final Offer platform work in Canada?
Final Offer is an open offer negotiation platform that uses three pricing tools: (1) List Price — your marketing price to attract buyers, (2) Buy-It-Now Price — a premium price where a buyer can take the property off market immediately, and (3) Seller Committed Price — a threshold where if an offer meets this price and terms, the seller commits to opening a transparent offer window for a set period, giving all interested buyers a fair chance to compete. Both buyer and seller agents are required on the platform.
Is blind bidding still legal in Ontario?
Yes, blind bidding is still legal and remains the most common method in Ontario. The TRESA changes in December 2023 didn’t ban blind bidding — they legalized open bidding as an alternative. Sellers and their agents can now choose between a traditional closed offer process or an open offer platform.
Do open offers get higher prices than blind bidding?
Data from Final Offer’s US operations shows listings using the platform sold at 112% of original list price, compared to 97% for the average agent in the same market. A CREA study from 2021 also found that open offer processes produced better prices and terms for sellers. When buyers can see what they’re competing against, those who genuinely want the property bid to win rather than guessing.
What was the NAR commission lawsuit and does it affect Canada?
The NAR settlement resulted from a lawsuit alleging that the MLS system’s private display of buyer agent commissions enabled price-fixing. The settlement banned advertising co-op commissions on US MLS systems. Canada already had more transparency — both buyer and seller sign documents showing all commission details. The direct legal impact on Canada is minimal, but the cultural push for transparency is accelerating on both sides of the border.
Listen to the Full Episode
This is from my conversation with Nathan Dart from Final Offer on Supply and Demand. Nathan’s been in real estate for over two decades and he’s the kind of person who can explain a complex platform in plain English — which is exactly what you need when you’re introducing something new to a market that’s been doing things the same way for 50 years. Listen on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.
If you’re buying or selling in Toronto or York Region and want to understand how open bidding works in practice — or if you just want to know whether it makes sense for your situation — I’m happy to walk you through it. No pressure. Just clarity.
Adam Nadler | Vision Real Estate | Selling Services | RE/MAX Your Community Realty