Democracy Gone Astray

Democracy, being a human construct, needs to be thought of as directionality rather than an object. As such, to understand it requires not so much a description of existing structures and/or other related phenomena but a declaration of intentionality.
This blog aims at creating labeled lists of published infringements of such intentionality, of points in time where democracy strays from its intended directionality. In addition to outright infringements, this blog also collects important contemporary information and/or discussions that impact our socio-political landscape.

All the posts here were published in the electronic media – main-stream as well as fringe, and maintain links to the original texts.

[NOTE: Due to changes I haven't caught on time in the blogging software, all of the 'Original Article' links were nullified between September 11, 2012 and December 11, 2012. My apologies.]

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

The dirty tricks sellers play to push up real estate prices

In Week 3 of the Buyer Diaries, our Winnipeg bloggers decided to walk away from a house they liked because of the seller's pressure tactics.

Corey and Angela were considering making an offer but were told by the selling agent that the owners were taking the house off the market the next day, so it was now or never for a bid.

"We didn't want to feel pressured into making an offer on a house that we were not completely sure of," Corey wrote.

Several listings the couple looked at were priced low in an attempt to attract multiple bids, Corey said. When the bids didn't appear, however, the sellers put their prices up $25,000 to ward off low offers.

"I can't say that I have ever heard of a place where the price of a house goes up as a result of not getting an offer. It is like supply-and-demand in reverse," he wrote.

In Vancouver, Kristin posed a question to readers: What is a starter home?

At 33, she lamented, she has a 10-year professional career under her belt, but has spent most of that time living in dark basement apartments and small rental units.

"Do I still need to do the whole 'starter home' thing? Or can those 10+ years count as 'time served' and I can expect to move directly to a home that works for the stage of life that my family and I are actually in?"

And in Toronto, Carl wrote about the shortcomings of his own starter home, which he bought 10 years ago and has since outgrown.

He spent the weekend sifting through listings, but nothing appealed to him.

"Things seem to be cooling off (thankfully), but I wonder if the lack of depth available has something to do with that," he wrote.

Original Article
Source: the globe and mail
Author: Dianne Nice 

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