When I sold my pile in beloved Lunenburg last winter, the young couple who took it knew everything. They knew when I bought it, and how much I’d paid. They knew how many days it had been on the market when I made my offer. They also knew how long the previous owners had been there, what they paid, and how long it took to find me. They had the property’s tax history going back years, plus they could do their own comparables by tracing the sales history of neighbouring properties.
In short, these two were informed buyers, able to judge whether they were paying a fair price or not, and knowledgeable in advance about price trends and the time it might take them to sell in future. And they still bought it. We all won.
Of course, Lunenburg is on the South Shore of Nova Scotia, a province where realtors are far less anal about things and the real estate board releases its data freely. So house-shoppers can log on to ViewPoint.ca and see everybody’s undies. It’s the future, of course. A big step to breaking down a realtor-designed system which, in most of the country, profits by keeping consumers blind and ignorant.
Until now.
This week the country’s biggest real estate cartel took a mortal hit. After five years of fighting the inevitable, trying to hold back the digital tide sweeping through all of our lives, it’s the Feds, 1, and TREB, 0. Soon buying a house might be a whole different, and vastly more informed, experience.
The realtors argued that the MLS system (and its trove of data) belongs to real estate board, and they can control it as they wish. They also argued releasing sales histories, days-on-market numbers, relistings, price reductions and so on could infringe on the privacy of a seller, past and present. But the Competition Bureau pressed on with its case that the Toronto Real Estate Board was “abusing its dominance” by shutting down agents who tried to publish sales history data on their websites, or make such key information public.
As you understand, buying a property is hard enough, now that you have to pay a ransom for it. Buying it without any historic context only fuels bidding wars, cranks up emotions and leaves inexperienced buyers with no useful, statistical context for their actions. In short, blinded buyers spend more. They can be more easily swayed, influenced, manipulated and goaded.
By preventing purchasers from knowing what the current owner paid, when, and what the market action has been, they go into an offer heavily influenced by the listing agent, unless they’ve been smart enough to enlist their own guy. Most aren’t. Just one more reason we now have average house prices that average people can’t afford – and yet keep reaching for more debt in order to do so.
The ruling Thursday could be a total game-changer. Says the competition watchdog: “TREB restricts how its member agents provide information to consumers, such as previous listings and previous sale prices, thereby denying agents the ability to introduce new and innovative real estate brokerage services using the Internet… The restrictions the have had, are having and are likely to have the effect of preventing competition substantially in a market.”
You bet. There are lots of agents itching to publish reams of data on area houses, allowing prospective buyers to sift through it on their own, coming to an informed decision on what listings they want to chase. To date, the cartel has threatened to shut them down entirely by simply cutting off their feed of MLS data, unless they comply.
Things won’t change overnight, but by the end of this year (or sooner) there may finally be some clarity delivered to a market which has relished the dark corners. Just imagine if the stock market operated this way, with investors forced to guess what shares traded for yesterday, last month or last year, and expected to simply pony up whatever the seller was asking. It would collapse. Financial regulators have worked hard to ensure there’s transparency, disclosure and complete information disseminated to all parties at exactly the same time. Anything else amounts to insider trading. And that sends you to jail.
It’s a good week with ethics.
Finally.
139 comments ↓
Ethics is a bird course that I took when I got my PhD in Curltural Marxism
First Oh YEAH BABY!!! Josef is the BEST!!!!
First. Who cares.
James this is what happens when the right meets the left at a us campus. Sadly this one in Boston.
http://www.breitbart.com/tech/2016/04/28/umass-students-freak-out-over-journalist-being-white-wearing-cross-at-milo-event/
Toronto star has a story I saw on twitter. 40 billion moved off shore when T2 was leading in the poles.
http://m.thestar.com/#/article/news/world/2016/04/04/how-offshore-tax-havens-are-costing-canada-billions-of-dollars-a-year.html
That’s result of communism.
Claiming first for the God Emperor of Man, the eternal Trump.
When will the ruling apply to all of Canada?
In retrospect, about a year from now, this will be huge.
An enormous domino about to fall, the fog that surrounds real estate pricing and history.
I estimate that homes in Toronto are probably overvalued by about 20-30% simply because of this lack of transparency. (Other factors account for what I believe is about a 50% overvaluation in total)
Vultching days are just over the horizon in 416.
Did I miss it? what was the ruling?
Melanie Aitken would be proud.
Finally indeed.
Its ridiculous that this took so long.
On a side note….
Cant wait for the new regulations for financial advisors to take effect in June.
My ex F. A. is crapping his thirsty undewear.
No love left for Lunenburg Garth? Or just one too many foggy Summer days?
I cannot understand why people are taking on these huge amounts of mortgage debt? When will this madness end? How much debt is enough? Had dinner with a group last night and people almost seemed proud of the fact that they won their homes in over priced bidding wars. It was like they had won a prize by going up to their eyeballs in debt. I think the world has gone mad.
zillow.ca has a nice ring to it.
I’m just wondering why a municipal or provincial government couldn’t just pass the appropriate laws to make the whole real estate system work more like the stock market with full disclosure and real discovery?
I know that I’d vote for the party that promised it.
How exciting! This could change everything, or nothing.. I can’t wait to find out!
Yipes
Time to sell my home .
Thanks for your thoughts on my post yesterday Guys .
Gartho everything, or every major business in Canada is a monopoly of sorts. Insurance, Airlines, Telecommunications, Real Estate. Canadian business people don’t know how to make money in a free market. The leftist leaning education system fks with their minds.
Ah if I could only disclose my system. Boarder line legal and no ethics.
But I discovered at the tender age of 30 when you lose it all. No one is there to help. Your naked and alone.
You get hard and do what you got to do..fk em all. Catch me if you can bastards.
Hi Garth,
Been successfully selling Real estate in Toronto for 20 years and I agree with you 100 percent ! How can we expect people to make informed decisions on probably the biggest purchase of their lifetime without ALL the facts? Its ludicrous!
It’s fear plan and simple the reluctance to open up the information! All it will do is let the public hold agents more accountable which as far as I am concerned is only right. I have always conducted myself with absolute integrity and have always prospered !
Garth,
It’s because of you mentioning the viewpoint site several years ago, that I learned about it. I used it and the local realtor and had a great experience. The data was very telling as all the history was at my finger tips, and what I didn’t know, the realtor did. The site makes it’s money by employing realtors, but with them, they are liberating the consumer not trying to screw them.
Thanks!
This is excellent news indeed. Maybe realtors will start burning their BRAs next.
Hopefully CREB is forced to release data as well.
#7 gut check on 04.28.16 at 7:01 pm
Did I miss it? what was the ruling?
…..
Just saw your post from the other day.. I love you too..
#1 Mary on 04.28.16 at 7:11 pm
“I cannot understand why people are taking on these huge amounts of mortgage debt? When will this madness end? How much debt is enough? Had dinner with a group last night and people almost seemed proud of the fact that they won their homes in over priced bidding wars. It was like they had won a prize by going up to their eyeballs in debt. I think the world has gone mad.”
Google “group polarization”.
Garth, apart from maybe making the buyers jealous that the seller is making a killing on the house, this won’t have that big of a difference, because what matters is how much the other buyers can pay for the house. The complete history of a dwelling doesn’t matter much when you have hordes of willing buyers at the door panting to overpay for a pile of plywood.
Checked out the website, and it is showing # 44 as still listed for sale. Odd. The amount of disclosure and history is awesome on the site. I’m down there on business on May 9th, and will book a few viewings. Who knows what may happen…why did you sell?
B
In BC, it is now possible, for the first time, to find out without the assistance of a real estate agent, the actual sold prices of properties that have sold very recently. Go to: http://www.mylocalhomes.com/
Agents use information such as recent selling prices as a calling card for potential future business. I’ve always thought it would be great not to have to call and speak with a listing agent when I’m interested in what a neighbourhood home recently sold for.
So is this only affecting Toronto? Will this ever be in place here in BC?
I have to agree this could be a game changer in a few years.
There is no significant ethics problem with RE agents.Because we have many watchdogs-
RECO, OREA, CREA, TREB, The Police, and more.
So, why only MLS is able to run the real estate listings in Toronto? Has a government at city/province/fed level granted MLS exclusive rights to manage the real estate listings and the buy/sell information?
I mean, can’t these well-meaning agents come together to run their own real estate listings/buy/sell business?
Who actually owns the data? CREA or TREB?
Also, shouldn’t the buy/sell transactions be registered with a government entity anyway and then why can’t government publish it?
#12 Hotdogs from Heaven on 04.28.16 at 7:12 pm
—
Alternatively, municipalities could make their existing databases on property sales more easily searchable as a tool for their citizens. It won’t have quite as many details as MLS (like time on market) but it will still be a powerful step forward.
This is good news for those of us who want open and free markets. I’ve always felt that realtors were scam artists whose job could easily be done by lower level clerks. Which of course many of them were before they lost their jobs and went into being realtors.
In the next 4 years we are going to have very large price corrections in major and some minor markets. Be patient kids, when the rent to own ratio comes that tells you to buy comes around you will be hundreds of thousands of dollars less in debt and happier for it.
The Competition Tribunal decision will have zero impact on prices in Toronto. It might impact realtor compensation. That’s it.
More on Garth’s topic today here:
http://www.cbc.ca/beta/news/business/treb-housing-data-competition-bureau-1.3557504
Finally the realtor ponzi may finally be over!
For many fellow Dawgs I wish to share another article. I was amazed how a seemingly intelligent writer could become one of millions of middle class who are struggling paycheck to paycheck. We are headed for dark waters. This tsunami hasn’t even begun. Hold onto your life jackets and read this article. More than anything I think I can make sense of the crazy presidential elections American is having.
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2016/05/my-secret-shame/476415/#article-comments
#2 <—–
"Josef on 04.28.16 at 6:53 pm
First Oh YEAH BABY!!! Josef is the BEST!!!!"
Pfffffft….No…..You're not!
I think here in Alberta realtors have always had access to this sort of data but you have to have a buyer’s agent to get it, it’s a separate system or restricted access or something. My agent always seemed to have printouts on anything I was half way interested in.
its about time….information is power…you can get that info from your realtor but you have to ask….and like all people they are lazy and there not gonna want to be looking all that data for a bunch of places….apperantly they have free access to the housing history in the u.s. ….
@3 SM
Smokey, you know what scares me most? These young fanatical social justice fighters are, God forbid, future legislators, politicians or some other type of people who will try to “change the world” according to their sick and warped concepts, which might morph into some pretty sick environment to live in for countless people. These psychotic minds, being so aggressive at pushing their view of the world onto others, will look for ways to impose it to as many of us as possible.
I am starting to really worry about my kids’ future.
anybody have thoughts on the new Sundial homes going up in Alton – Really is north Burlington, Ontario.
http://www.sundialhomes.com/register/?id=1740
Oh boy. Lots of good articles today. This one will pull on your heart strings and acts as a reminder that there are more casualties than just the buyers. Hopefully the insanity will stop.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/real-estate/toronto/the-emotional-cost-of-the-toronto-house-hunt/article29770550/
“Holding individual securities is not investing. It’s gambling.”
Sound advice. Years ago I received some of the best advice that I only partially followed. I was advised by a fee only advisor to hold a well diversified portfolio of low cost ETFs: Canada, US, international and fixed income; much like what you have recommended.
They told me I could do it with a handful of ETFs – then focus on your work and enjoy your life. But I ended up mostly holding stocks. I just ended up wasting a bunch of time managing the portfolio of stocks – with a small % of ETFs. Ended up with a mixture of solid stocks AND some real losers!
I have been working to transition over to ETFs, but old habits die hard. Your comments reinforce what I know I need to do and strengthen my resolve. Thanks for what you do here.
Hey Garth tell ur cop buddy from yesterdays blog to sell his $APPL shares ,evenCarl Ichan sold his 45 + million shares of it! Why dont u talk about the biggest gainers this year which is $GOLD & $SILVER?why the bias against these 2 assets?
Usdcad I sence a bottom. Don’t total trust my crystal ball since the fever. But I’m going to put on a small bet and see what happens.
You would think 4 days in Laughlin and 4 in Vegas would keep this old gambler at home for a while. Well habits are hard change. At Senica sobar and smokeless.
My body refuses cigs, wine and the hard shit. Two beers and I’m wasted.
Economic drinking, it’s amazing.
Just booked Vegas for my birthday July 12th for a week. I measure life as trips to Vegas. Know alot of people that loved it. But their dead and can’t go back.
I was close a few weeks ago.. I’m going 4 times a year till god is brave enough to face me with my grivences.
YES… The culture of our real estate market in Canada has produced a lot of LYING TEDs and CROOKED HILLARYs….
This will undoubtedly expose a few.
#5
When will the ruling apply to all of Canada?
—————–
While this ruling doesn’t directly apply to all real estate boards in Canada, the precedent has been set in this case and, when asked, no other board will refuse to hand out the data. Otherwise, they set themselves up for an extremely short, and in vain, legal challenge. So all other boards will comply as soon as the specifics of this ruling have been hammered out, if not sooner.
@#98 Brazil Expat 04/27
“Mr Fartbrain is a sadddddddd panda…..”
*******************************************
Not as sad as THIS “panda”
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-twenty-first-fox-bombscare-baltimore-idUSKCN0XP2SP
Great news Garth. This makes my day. But monopolistic cartels never go down easily, especially when well-financed and backed-into a corner. My gut feeling is that Zillow.ca is probably years away.
here’s a sales mixer! new 2011 799. 3 years ago 899. today almost 1.4. 500k since 2013 on the SAME unit, now that’s some stagnation…
this is a duplex – you should see the stagnation on sfh around here!
2026 GRANT STREET, Vancouver, British Columbia V5L2Z3
$1,388,000
Listing ID: R2060008
some are still in denial regardless of the evidence so I wouldn’t bother posting this kind of stuff. it makes them upset.
most people have agreed that YVR and YYZ RE prices have been increasing irrationally over the last few years. Ross Kay has also admitted to such as he has since backed off his sales mix theory.
it’s sad
#Ethics?… #WeDon’tNeedNoStinkin’Ethics…
[Tyee] – Premier’s Annual Stipends from Liberal Party Total $300,000
“The Premier’s share of these donations may as well be passed directly to the Premier by the attendees of her parties in an envelope at the beginning of the evening. This conduct is outrageous, incredibly problematic, and directly contrary to the public interest.” – Vancouver-Point Grey MLA David Eby
http://www.thetyee.ca/News/2016/04/28/Christy-Clark-Stipend/
Why does life need to revolve around skimping saving , doing the right thing. Nest egg, safety, rainy day fund.
That’s not living. The lowest man on the western totem pole is light years a head of an Ethiopian kid.
You guys worry to much. Being naked, alone when no one cares is añ amazing life lesson.
Just makes you floor it on the gas pedal cursing down extraterrestrial highway.
No idea where this post is going, on my 3rd beer and I’m hammered.
Garth! This is great news! Could Zillow.ca really become a reality in the not too distant future?
Does this ruling only affect Toronto? Will GVREB have to go through a separate court case, or will this decision apply nationwide?
This could be the pin that pops the bubble…
Should cut down on flipping and the shady practice of multiple assignments.
#36 gladiator on 04.28.16 at 7:54 pm
@3 SM
Smokey, you know what scares me most? These young fanatical social justice fighters are, God forbid, future legislators, politicians or some other type of people who will try to “change the world” according to their sick and warped concepts, which might morph into some pretty sick environment to live in for countless people. These psychotic minds, being so aggressive at pushing their view of the world onto others, will look for ways to impose it to as many of us as possible.
I am starting to really worry about my kids’ future.
….
Don’t sweat it pall. They’re going no were but the welfare line. Un-employable and no chance of starting a business.
What a waste of there patents money.
A watchdog should say, ” TREB is ruff. Ruff. Ruff.”
To say, “The restrictions … have the effect of preventing competition substantially in a market.” is really difficult to take seriously.
What does “preventing competition substantially in a market.” really mean?
These gals need to get out more.
The weather is warm on the West Coast. Bikers everywhere, tell your friends it’s not safe in Nanaimo.
TTFN
Treb just got made the patsy for New Coast Realty, and all the breathless coverage they received on the front page of the Globe and Mail, (BC edition). This will help protect property sellers from making high-pressure ‘cash’ deals, that under-value properties for mark-ups and contract assignments down the road, but the effect on astronomical asking prices will be minimal.
Maybe some buyers would balk at a 50% increase in asking price for a property after only 12 months’ ownership, and a few hasty Reno’s, but the sellers don’t have to accept low-ball offers, if they don’t want to.
Still it reduces the number of tools available to unscrupulous agents. Instead of relying on the ignorance of buyers and sellers, they’ll only be able to use extortive buyer representation agreements, and phony bidding wars to juice their commissions.
I predict the REAL losers in this decision will be those that dream up the numbers for the house price index: nothing like opening up a trove of data to shine the light on cherry pickings. Now price indices can be calculated block by block, instead of city by city.
No word on the influence of foreigners on RE markets, though. We’ll have to wait for the Census, before we can answer that one!
Message for the Metrosexual Messiah:
I am going to pay my taxes this Saturday, I worked hard for my money last year in between surgeries.
I could have sat on the couch and felt sorry for myself but I got back on the tax pony and said giddy up.
If you tire of going from meeting to meeting and feel the need to treat your self to a spa day on my dime I will be mad but I guess I will accept it as long as you don’t go giving any 3rd world country billions of dollars in the name of global warming….oops too late…
Also don’t spend your time trying to be the anti Harper.
Sure your predecessor had lots of faults and wasted money,but he never went around telling anyone who would listen that he was going to waste money.
Harper was a tyrant, but he also appeared to be a better wheeler/ dealer than you.
O.k ,so you’ve got your eye on the future but if your ever gonna want a second term you better get a bit more cunning and you might want to think about how Harper lasted so long.
All I’m saying is do your home work ……Preparation H is not just something you rub on your bum…
M41BC
The rental buildings in Toronto are full, wouldn’t that mean that perhaps real estate here is undervalued?
forget Apple. Amazon crushed it!
http://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-earnings-q1-2016-2016-4
historic indeed!
http://www.cbc.ca/beta/news/business/treb-housing-data-competition-bureau-1.3557504
Obama’s phony ‘recovery’ is a sham.
“But as Obama also acknowledged, the public anger about the economy is not without empirical basis. A large swath of the nation has dropped out of the labor force completely, and the reality for the average American family is that its household income is $4,000 less than it was when Bill Clinton left office. Economic inequality, meanwhile, has only grown worse, with the top 1 percent of American households taking in more than half of the recent gains in income growth. “Millions and millions and millions and millions of people look at that pretty picture of America he painted and they cannot find themselves in it to save their lives,” Clinton himself said of Obama’s economy in March, while on the campaign trail for his wife. “People are upset, frankly; they’re anxiety-ridden, they’re disoriented, because they don’t see themselves in that picture.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/01/magazine/president-obama-weighs-his-economic-legacy.html?_r=0
#50 Bottoms_Up on 04.28.16 at 8:24 pm
Should cut down on flipping and the shady practice of multiple assignments.
…
You coming to climate hustle. .link from yesterday’s posts.
Smokey saving one mind at a time….
Last post “patents” should have been parents. ..fking key board correctness on these smart phones.
Here we have Garth saying things are going to change. Now where have I heard this before? Hope you’re right.
#BonusEthics… #TheMountedPoliceOfFantasyIsland,Or… #Los’Federales’…
https://youtu.be/4OcM23Hbs5U
Garth
I thought you loved lunenburgh. Any reason why you sold it!
Bandit got seasick. — Garth
The sad reality is buyers are ignorant and are afraid to make their realtors work for their money. Tell them you want the sales data for your area for a specific type of home for the last 6 months. There it all is, the original asking price, days on market and selling price. You will be surprised what is available.
I just bought a house in the fall and requested such data. No houses weren’t selling over asking as the real estate board inferred. Rather, quite the contrary. In fact, I got mine for $50k under asking.
If your realtor says such information is unavailable, walk away as he is hiding something.
Knowledge is power. Why do you think the realtors are afraid to give up control of the MLS stats?
If RE was regulated like the securities market just think of all the jobs that would create. There would be compliance officers (lots), new jobs for economists and demographers, trading desk equivalents, not to mention analysts galore. Middle Class jobs. Get ready. Yay Trudeau!
Hey Garth
Great post. I guess before I buy my 200 shares of XIU, I should find out what the seller paid for their shares.
Dork.
Sock it to me Trudy. from parliament hill.
Concerned Citizen – the condos are empty.
Won’t make one lick of a difference if those stats are made public.
Human nature is human nature and the house horniness of those horny to buy a house at whatever cost will continue.
How coincidental, this big potential change to real estate info and today the k-tel guy died. Realsokrtors, used car sales, vacuum sales and good old k-tel. But wait, there’s more!
About time. We live in the info age and to leave real estate out of the mix is just plain corrupt. There must be some drunken realtors tonight!
T2 change? or just more of the same?
http://www.businessinsider.com/attawapiskat-locals-say-the-government-is-hushing-them-out-2016-4
Transparency and Canadian culture are oxymorons.
On one side everything is peaceful (circa titanic in it’s last hour) but on another hand it is surely sinking…
Waiting for the feuerwerks (soon from a safe place). It will be smelly.
” Ross Kay has also admitted to such as he has since backed off his sales mix theory. “
Making it up as you go along I see? Can you provide a shred of evidence to suggest that Ross Kay has decided that his previous analysis was not valid?
Since we’re dealing with real people here, I suggest you not use Garth’s platform to sully the reputation of people who have a far higher amount of knowledge of the RE marketplace than you certainly do.
Why do you think the realtors are afraid to give up control of the MLS stats?
Its all about keeping “their” game going. When someone on that forum I used to frequent started posting data that clearly would lead anyone with even the slightest iota of statistical analysis skills to conclude that the sales mix was prominent in the quoted price changes, the mortgage brokers and RE agent types ran him right off there. Its no surprise that basically they do the same but on a much larger scale. Then there’s Realtors like that “Khalid” from Vancouver. Owns “15 to 20 houses primarily for resale”, who are relying upon finding suckers onto which to unload them for top dollar. Of course, the market has not been so swell in Vancouver (3 years of price stagnation on identical properties!), so people like him are losing significant amount of money at this point.
Smoking man yes USD CAD seems close to bottom. I got into FAZ for this st. volatility coming up.
#48 Smoking Man on 04.28.16 at 8:15 pm
Why does life need to revolve around skimping saving , doing the right thing. Nest egg, safety, rainy day fund.
That’s not living. The lowest man on the western totem pole is light years a head of an Ethiopian kid.
You guys worry to much. Being naked, alone when no one cares is añ amazing life lesson.
Just makes you floor it on the gas pedal cursing down extraterrestrial highway.
No idea where this post is going, on my 3rd beer and I’m hammered.
/////////////////////////////////
Joking Man ,I will show an example of how good the western world has it.
Some people in Africa have to walk 20 kms a day to get water, whilst the Western guy invents a thing called a “lazy Susan” so we don’t have to get out of our seats to continue to stuff our faces…
M41BC
Usdcad I sence a bottom. Don’t total trust my crystal ball since the fever. But I’m going to put on a small bet and see what happens.
bold. I like it
#26 Andrew on 04.28.16 at 7:36 pm
So is this only affecting Toronto? Will this ever be in place here in BC?
———————————–
When we bought in Nanaimo three years ago we had all this information provided to us by our realtor for every property we decided to view. At that time, we found some properties had been on the market for three years and relisted six or seven times. Historical selling data for our area was online from the BC government.
If your realtor says they can’t provide this info, find another one who isn’t a fool or a con man. Our realtor was a total professional and gently talked us out of a couple of homes that we now know were wrong for us.
Buffet recognizes global warming and its positive impact on the insurance business (but negative impact on the world):
http://bloom.bg/1T8qLuh
That Globe Mail link above, real estate emoting.
A million bucks for an aging subdivision house likely needing 50k for repairs in Dorkville?
(Figure 1000/month on taxes and utilities.)
Look what you can rent…
http://m.kijiji.ca/house-rental/oakville-halton-region/f?categoryId=43&locationId=1700277&maxPrice=3000&minPrice=2000
Really, how many bottom dwellers (“Nanaimo”) are lurking on this site, longing to move back from exile to civilization? If you were shortsighted enough to move biker-ville, you’re probably stuck there.
Glad to hear the store is going to open on time. Are you going to sell organic catnip for the Cheech and Chong cats.
Serious bank to be made on organic catnip.
Next we break the lawyers’ monopoly:
– Publish all the proceeding’s real costs
– And judges pay.
(My theory is that the lawyers who did not “make it” by, say, 55 – 60, defaulted into getting a “judgeship”.)
More clarity about legal fees.
The system publishes lugubrious judgements on proceedings. Why not publish the legal fees incurred by both sides?
Mark,Ross Kay sent me this message to pass onto you regarding the sales mix.
More hitting the dartboard,less hitting the pinball machine…
M41BC
http://imgur.com/ZeKyjCE
# 51 Smoking Man
#36 gladiator on 04.28.16 at 7:54 pm
@3 SM
Smokey, you know what scares me most? These young fanatical social justice fighters are, God forbid, future legislators, politicians or some other type of people who will try to “change the world” according to their sick and warped concepts, which might morph into some pretty sick environment to live in for countless people. These psychotic minds, being so aggressive at pushing their view of the world onto others, will look for ways to impose it to as many of us as possible.
I am starting to really worry about my kids’ future.
….
Don’t sweat it pall. They’re going no were but the welfare line. Un-employable and no chance of starting a business.
What a waste of there patents money.
Perhaps you guys haven’t noticed but Garth just hired a whole wack of these kids and had some pretty nice things to say about them.
Before I stopped working I also hired and trained and worked alongside and was impressed daily by desire, action, situational awareness, problem solving, team work, blah, blah…
4 years ago I invested with one of these people you say are a waste of their parent’s money, she had a business but no plan, no contacts, no banker, no family nearby. I was introduced to her, she developed a business plan, it worked so I wrote a couple of cheques.
Just shy of $20,000.
She paid me back in full 8 months later and each and every year since she drops a cheque on me, hasn’t been below $20,000 yet. Won’t do up the paperwork to buy me out and send me on my way, says I took a chance on her when no one else would and I’m her partner….
What a waist of patents money, eh?
You and Gladiator need to get out more, smile at folks you see walking down the street, say hello in there, hello…human stuff.
You might be impressed with what you find.
Ah no, insider trading does not send you to jail. It most likely happens everyday and is probably the easiest way to make money on the stock market. It’s getting caught that sends you to jail. Just ask Martha and her greedy ilk.
Maybe
You are at your best when you have taken up the side of righteousness and won.
Congratulations Garth, I don’t know exactly how much your constant pressure on this issue had to do with its resolution, but good work dude.
Actually let’s just get ride of the whole organized real estate system. EVERYBODY FSBO. Yup, that’ll work just fine.
#77 Bottoms
”
Buffet recognizes global warming and its positive impact on the insurance business (but negative impact on the world):
http://bloom.bg/1T8qLuh”
Buffet says whats good for Buffet. He’s been getting billions in federal subsidies to build dark windmills that turn but never get plugged into the grid. He said himself he uses the federal welfare to smooth out the losses in his other businesses ( which have been massive btw).
Buffets been Obama’s bum buddy like a hooker who spots a john with a newly cashed pay packet. Buffets windmill farms are well know to be killing millions of endangered migratory birds. So many that the EPA had to grant him an exemption.
One duck gets stuck in a tailings pond and Obama’s eco warriors are screaming bloody murder…but Obama’s leached ( supporters ) kill millions of ducks and they get an exemption…..only a Trudeau Liberal can justify this hypocrisy.
Big question here I would like some advice. I will be 36 years old next year. I will be making around a 100k a year just on my rentals I own. I have no debt. I live comfortably. Should I keep working? When do you draw the line? Any comments are certianly welcome
#1 Randy on 04.28.16 at 6:52 pm
Ethics is a bird course that I took when I got my PhD in Curltural Marxism
#2 Josef on 04.28.16 at 6:53 pm
First Oh YEAH BABY!!! Josef is the BEST!!!!
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No. Randy is First, Josef. Because he had something to contribute. And he was literally “First”.
You are second, figuratively of course (LOL!)… and because you keep spelling your name wrong.
Randy. Cool.
Joseph. Second.
This has the potential to put a ton of realtors out of work, n’est pas? Why use a realtor when the data is right there for the consumer. Not the first industry to be affected tech and trends. Uber real estate anyone?
DELETED
Smoking Man on 04.28.16 at 7:15 pm
Gartho everything, or every major business in Canada is a monopoly of sorts. Insurance, Airlines, Telecommunications, Real Estate. Canadian business people don’t know how to make money in a free market. The leftist leaning education system fks with their minds.
Ah if I could only disclose my system. Boarder line legal and no ethics.
But I discovered at the tender age of 30 when you lose it all. No one is there to help. Your naked and alone.
You get hard and do what you got to do..fk em all. Catch me if you can bastards.
====================================
Love it.
And couldn’t agree more about the lack of competition in Canada. Except it’s worse than that: it’s sold as if there IS competition.
“Gee, should I go with Bell or Telus? Air Canada or WestJet? Oooh which reality show should I watch tonight?”
Canada is like a real-life Truman show, everyone thinking that they’re making actually making decisions, meanwhile not even noticing the puppeteer’s hand up their behind.
The whole offshore “scandal” is simply more (typical) envy of those with more than themselves. Hell, there doesn’t even seem to be an attempt to suggest that what’s going on is illegal. More like a gleeful revealing of private information for the braying masses.
It will only make those who have accumulated more than average wealth, more determined to hang on to it. I know that watching Trudeau being elected (from outside the country) has hardened my own resolve to never pay a cent in Canadian tax again. It’s one thing to try and calculate how much money has fled, how about the cost of the money that will never come back? At some point SOMEBODY has to pay for all the goodies.
Taxation by confiscation has already been proven a failure many times over. The current climate of entitlement does not bode well.
We have had full RE disclosure in England for years.
You can either go on Zoopla.com to spy on the neighbours for free or pay a peanut amount on the Land Registry site for all their data on a property.
Encouraging news, however I’ll believe it (and be gobsmacked) when I see the actual legislation.
It’s all too easy to “pronounce” changes, but enacting them, in an effective, game changing, substantial and consumer-fair manner is another thing altogether.
These cartel master manipulators have controlled the black box of re info far too long and to ridiculous excess. This forced people not only to overpay, but also forced prices ever upward regardless of economic parameters. Wonderful for their commissions. Terrible for the buyer’s life-long finances.
Information Technology has greatly enhanced realtards ability to control information, control supply and control pricing. Perhaps the most important device wrought from this is the ability to influence and control people’s emotions to obscenity. And let’s not forget that 90% of buying decisions are emotionally driven.
Parasitic in the extreme.
What a despicable, disrespectful attitude towards the public. And towards its government.
We live in an age where business in general has far too much power and government stands idly by, nay, protectively by, as it has been convinced by same that “interference will harm it”.
Not in a million years. The DNA of business is to survive and thrive. It always finds a way or is no longer relevant, was a dud anyway or is past its useful life.
It’s far beyond time that this cartel got spanked in a seriously major way. And permanently and externally controlled. Not the cache-cache, coochy-coo, f-u game it’s been playing with its carte blanche.
But I won’t hold my breath.
This is, after all, slap-on-the-wrist land.
Great comment by Lee Adler:
Since the bottom of the housing crash in 2009, the Fed has pushed mortgage rates down by 26%. That has “stimulated” new house sale prices to inflate by 40.4%. At the March 2009 median price of $205,100 and the then current mortgage rate of 5.0%, the monthly payment was $1,101. At the current median price of $288,000 and the current mortgage rate of 3.69% the monthly payment is $1,324. So remind me again how the Fed’s artificially suppressing mortgage rates stimulates housing demand when the monthly payment is now 20% higher?
What is the change in Canada?
@#85 and 87 Devils Advocate aka Long Time Realtor
Upset that one of your major “price pumping” advantages has been taken away from you?
Understandable went you have all the cards, know what the other player will bet , and make the rules as the “game” progresses.
The most important purchase a person will ever make in their lives AND your there to bend them over for YOUR hefty commission.
What could possible be wrong with THAT conflict of interest?
Welcome to the new realtor reality…..honesty, fairplay and informed buyers that are finally allowed to know the history of a property they will be plunking down 25 years of servitude to.
Hopefully we wont have to “get rid of the whole real estate industry…”
You’ll finally just work in the best interests of the buyer and the seller instead of pumping your obscene commissions for “showing” a house that, lets face it, sells itself.
But we can hope………..
Moved to the US 14 years ago. The local paper prints all real estate transaction with selling prices every Saturday.
The MLS service (REIN) lists houses for sale and houses sold with asking and selling prices and finally we have Zillow which lists sales history days on market and a comparison to other houses in the area.
Home Capital is cited as an example on how to fend off short sellers via ‘dutch auction’ and ‘increased dividends’.
http://business.financialpost.com/investing/five-ways-companies-can-combat-short-sellers
Interesting that Viewpoint has not updated the listing. (It says it has been on the market for 354 days…
I guess they are not on top of all the listings.
It is up on MLS as well. Did they renovate and want to flip?
Wrong house. I sold that one and moved on to a new restoration project. Sold that, too. — Garth
Viewpoint says it has been on the market for 350 plus days? Are they not updating their information?
I have a friend who is your neighbour. Nice house.
#93 BillyBob on 04.29.16 at 3:52 am
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I don’t think anyone really cares when people have offshore money.
The issue is whether they are following or breaking tax laws. Everyone knows its the people with money that pay taxes…there can be no other way.
#97 crowdedelevatorfartz on 04.29.16 at 8:18 am
You have no idea how I work and cannot justifiably make such insinuation as you do.
There, in my opinion, is much wrong with organized real estate and most of it stems from how the industry perpetuates the public stereotypes. Open Houses and full page colour ads do not sell houses they sell REALTORS®
I’ve seen this industry change much in the last two decades and more change is on the horizon. Much of it good. As for the recent Anticompetition matter… that is largely regarding the data we compile with respect to sold prices. That can be had from most property tax authorities with whom we already share that information.
As for the MLS® it is not a Multiple Listing SERVICE it is a Multiple Listing SYSTEM created, designed and paid for by the real estate profession to facilitate the sharing of one another’s clients wants and needs to better facilitate the collaborative efforts of the real estate community toward bringing buyers and sellers together. It is a NETWORKING tool. A big part of what REALTORS® do is network and the MLS® is the tool we designed, paid and constantly improve in order to help us better do that job.
The other 800+ REALTORS® in my city are not my competition, they are my built in sales force. My sellers and I are only too happy to pay them well as incentive to do the job we want them to do. That is a lot more effective means toward finding a buyer for my clients home than me sending out information to the 7 billion plus people on the planet for ANYONE considering the purchase of real estate is talking to at least one REALTOR® in the city in which they are considering such a purchase.
On the matter of background and comparable information on any given property you might be considering the purchase of; believe me the information is already there for you to access. All you have to do is know how to use the tools. On the other hand you could hook up with a good real estate agent, you have a confident trust in and have them compile all that information for you. For example; when I am working with a First Time Buyer we typically look at over 15 homes before they make an offer. Generally they lose the first one, two or even three homes as they are not quite so well enough informed to make a good offer confidently. It’s an educational process. I suppose you could educate yourself to do pretty much anything for yourself. But… you know what they say; “An education is a bargain at any price and there is no education like experience.” Why would you, and do you even have the time to, educate yourself on those matters there are well experienced and educated professionals that are ready for you to hire to do the job for you. Aren’t you better to do what you do well and hire someone else to do for you what they do well?
Of course there are many who will try do it themselves because, like you, they perceive an indifference in service and no value add in the services provided by REALTORS®. And that’s OK. Like I said “an education is a bargain at any price and there is no education like experience”. If you think you can do it, by all means try.
Take a page out of Henry Ford’s book and hire talent rather than wasting time trying to duplicate it in yourself.
Just have a look at the comments on this article. You can smell the roasting realtor flesh!! LOL
http://www.repmag.ca/news/watchdog-wins-case-against-treb-206505.aspx
ppl who purchased YVR and YYZ real estate have made outsized returns despite realtor obfuscation, but nothing lasts forever and virtually nobody gets off the train in time.
SM – you are going to live this… Wynne has a plan for you and the rest of your Ontario brethren…
http://www.financialpost.com/m/wp/news/blog.html?b=business.financialpost.com/fp-comment/kevin-libin-kathleen-wynnes-monstrous-new-utility-to-make-ontarians-drive-live-and-work-green&pubdate=2016-04-29
Meanwhile, back in Vancouver…
http://www.theprovince.com/news/Craigslist+offering+Vancouver+women+free+rent+exchange/11883573/story.html
I wonder if they will take a step forward after this and regulate the industry for realtors to only be full time realtors without other employment. Over the past 15 years so many inexperienced part timers have come into the industry making prices explode in VYR and GTA. Big business for the boards with the schooling and license fees.
this is great news, especially for people that like data, but I don’t think it will have a big impact on buyers. Statistics? We call it house lust for a reason….even the over-educated millennials rarely ask questions, the only stat they care about is that house prices have “always” gone up.
Go to the nearest starbucks, grab a millennial or someone in skinny jeans and ask them about this stuff. They’ll just regurgitate the same old cliches, probe a little farther and you’ll see their eye’s glaze over.
Agents will present the data in a positive light, tell the customer what they want to hear: “your investment is going up!!”. Warp and twist everything, the young-ins won’t ask the probing questions, aren’t equipped to interpret it anyways. Happy, happy off into the world of suburbia, minivans and 2.1 kids. Yaayy!
Hey Garth
Great post. I guess before I buy my 200 shares of XIU, I should find out what the seller paid for their shares.
Dork.
I think you’re missing the point. The point is you can tell exactly what everyone else is currently paying for 200 shares of XIU, and all the alternatives like XDV etc. You can tell what someone paid for 200 shares of XIU 1, 2, 5 as many years back as the data goes. There is no reason we shouldn’t have this information readily available for real estate. No reason at all. The technology is there. We know we have the transaction records. Let’s make this happen.
http://www.msn.com/en-ca/money/real-estate/vancouver-8-solutions-to-the-messed-up-real-estate-market/ar-BBsq9sd?li=AAgh0dA&ocid=mailsignout
I read this, and not that they are all bad ideas or anything, however it can be much simpler….raise minimum required downpayments to 10% down, raise interest rates (coming slowly to a lender near you) and raise CMHC insurance payments/requirements…..
While it’s great that data will be available, it won’t stop the lust. You have to make feel dumb – “Hey you fool, you just paid 1M over what the guy before you just paid 6 months ago” Only shaming can cool this market.
Forget about the history – PEOPLE MUST BE ABLE TO AFFORD the current price and somehow they can reach for it. And they want to chase it. Realtors who now can’t move homes have a simple solution – RAISE THE PRICE and people buy it.
By year end, Van will be down to flat on the year of year – 30% and Toronto -15%.
Shut this market down boys. Also bought long term kaputs on Home Capital (HCG.TO) is seems more scuzzy than Genworth.
#76 Andrew Woburn
I know the realtors have this information and can provide it to buyers if they are asked and if they wish to do so. However, this is a long way away from making the information publicly available to everybody, as would be the case with a Zillow like website.
I think the majority of people don’t realise this information is available via their realtor, or simply are too disinterested to care. Most people will simply believe what they are told because the realtor “knows best”. It’s surprising how gullible people can be with the largest purchase of their life. Not only that, but how much of a hassle is it to ask your realtor for this information every time you see a house you like? It’s far more easier to click a few buttons. Heck, you can almost get rid of the realtor entirely if this information becomes available.
Making this information available for all to see, quickly and easily on a website will allow even the simplest minded people to make an informed decision. This alone should wake people up to what is really going on out there and not to blindly believe what they’re told.
Ontario?
Not interested. Will check back tommorrow. I won’t even allow people from Ontario on my land, except maybe you, Turner.
The only reason I haven’t visited Saskatchewan is because it’s too close to Ontario. Carpet baggers, thieves, and miscreants all.
In BC we genuinely care about our neighbours (I know that seems foreign).
Hello Garth,
I was catching up with recent blog articles and have one important question about your advice on The Crime (April 27).
Most of the people don’t have enough money (you have said this many times). So most probably for most of the people getting 6 or 7 % a year (as an average) is not good enough (not even close).
So assuming you need better % and more growth, how would you go for it? The first thing that comes to my mind is changing the balance of 60% growth and 40% safe assets.
Based on a couple of things yourself repeat from time to time:
– these investments are targeted for decades in the future (the long term haul)
– the markets will eventually correct in case of crashes (don’t panic, it’s not different this time)
Then what’s the point of having 40% in safe stuff?
(apart from having assets in +% to sell during the crash in order to buy more of the so called crashed assets)
That’s a very big % of that little money most people have.
Wouldn’t it make sense to have a portfolio of 80-20 or even 90-10 instead of 60-40 (at least in your earliest years). Once you start getting close to retirement (close to the point in time where you need the funds) then you gradually move to 70-30, 60-40 and so on.
Is there a better strategy to make your portfolio grow without taking too much risk? Any other suggestion? (I am not asking to name specific assets or anything like that, I just think the 60-40 weighting is not good enough for most people and I am trying to find something better, where should I start?)
Thanks for this blog. it’s a blessing.
#respect #greatblog
Wrong house. I sold that one and moved on to a new restoration project. Sold that, too. — Garth
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so you are a big bad flipper afterall!
you seem like a very dynamic mobile guy.
the security many get from not having to move seems lost on you. kids/schools/friends a connection with one’s ‘hood are reasons many don’t want to sell.
I too was a mobile city-hopper until i came to vancouver, where, like many, i wanted to stay for good. we will not relocate to TO, AB or elsewhere for even the juciest dream job. not worth it.
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dow30 triple top looks to be coming in nicely.
#87 aka Devil’s Advocate
Actually let’s just get ride of the whole organized real estate system. EVERYBODY FSBO. Yup, that’ll work just fine.
……….
Seems to work fine for the 2nd largest purchase in most people’s lives……cars! Do we have somebody guiding us through this and suggesting..”nice layout”!
Well, somebody had the courage to say it:
http://www.bnn.ca/Video/player.aspx?vid=859440
The sense of fear in Kelowna’s most notorious shill is palpable.
What’s even more wondrous is the fact that this much-mocked “Golden God of Kelowna RE” still has the gall to show his defeated face around here.
#89 Young money
People work because they either have no money, made bad financial choices, or have no life outside of work. Or a combo.
If you have enough money, or a reliable cash flow, then quit working. Do something that you’re passionate about.
@ DA
My sellers and I are only too happy to pay them well as incentive to do the job we want them to do.
Very interesting sentence, especially when you factor in that buyer is only party with funds in a transaction. Why don’t you say it, buyer always pays sellers commission, we wont ’em confused.
Ethics is in everything, not just the price negotiation.
Plumbing: Was it at code when it was built? How about now? For example, the L joint for drainage was at code in 1998 when the place was built. But the newer washer (LG) sustains increased force and the previous guy never used the washer, so an enzyme solution was needed to clean the pipes and allow the water to drain from the washer into the sewer. Now it is fine. It’s not at present code, but it works.
Electric: Everything works. The CGFI(spelling) panels for the electric outlets in the master are a nice touch. The board in the basement seems correctly placed.
There are ethics during the install. Luckily it seems the plumbing and electrics were handled correctly. The roofing was done wrong: Flashing around the chimney installed backwards, so the rain ran down the chimney into the house, instead of onto the roof. Another expensive fix the inspector failed to catch.
The reality is that everyday there is trust implied in other people. Not that you have a choice: You cannot order the roadway vacant or have no coworkers at work. So therein lies the cognitive dissonance that people will do what they are supposed to do or better than(above code).
Heard a guy on BNN named Mark (something) who is a shorter who referred to Vancouver as Hongcouver, and basically called it the money laundering capital of the World. My point though is that he seemed to believe Toronto was o.k. and did not voice much concern over prices in Toronto. Toronto will be just fine. No Vultures required.
Why not sort out the confusion? I would like to know that viewpoint is what it is cracked up to be.
Thanks
What confusion? I bought a house, sold it a couple of years later to buy a better one, then sold that one to a nice young couple. I love moving. — Garth
40 FT. MARINA SLIP FOR SALE – $250000 (False Creek)
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some of you high roller dogs may need a spot to tie up the yacht. see craigslist.
makes a waterfront condo seem cheap!
#106 waiting on the westcoast on 04.29.16 at 10:21 am
SM – you are going to live this… Wynne has a plan for you and the rest of your Ontario brethren…
http://www.financialpost.com/m/wp/news/blog.html?b=business.financialpost.com/fp-comment/kevin-libin-kathleen-wynnes-monstrous-new-utility-to-make-ontarians-drive-live-and-work-green&pubdate=2016-04-29
……
She’s a mental case that will destroy ontario.
Great blog.
Your story about your Lunenbourg house is a bit iffy, unless Viewpoint has incorrect information.
Sigh. Wrong house (for the last time). — Garth
@#103 Devils Advocate.
“It is a NETWORKING tool. A big part of what REALTORS® do is network and the MLS® is the tool we designed, paid and constantly improve in order to help us better do that job…….”
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Well, now that the In-Ter-Net has been invented I guess we dont need your “tool” to “network”.
As I said before The house sells itself.
You’re just there to pump up the price.
#111
“…raise minimum required downpayments to 10% down, raise interest rates (coming slowly to a lender near you) and raise CMHC insurance payments/requirements…..”
Hell yeah. I’m sick of subsidizing people who can’t pay off their credit card bidding 100’s of thousands of dollars they’ve never seen against me.
There was a time when you needed money to buy a home. Now not only do you not need money, but having it only makes you skittish about losing it.
And the media – says nothing.
For BC, you can go to http://evaluebc.bcassessment.ca
They have the ‘sales history of last three years’ for each property.
However, I find that there is at least a year delay before the sale data shows up on that web site, if not more.
Bram
Globe has put the article about the ruling behind the paywall. Funny.
Why is it funny?
Because Globe put some sappy piece about how a couple lost a bidding war by only $30K for a dream 1.06M house in suburbs noting how heart broken their 6 year old was braking out $3.25 out of his piggybank to help mum buy the 1.06 house NOT behind the paywall.
You know, I don’t watch the media, but anyone who doesn’t call BS on that one, and thinks it’s just a happy coincidence may not be a greater one, but at least is a good fool.
anyone else load up on gold today? Looks like it’s ready to go…..
new world currency coming
The name of the dude on BNN is Marc Cohodes, and unfortunatelly for the housing bulls he might be right. He is on it for his own interest, shorting $HCG mainly, but he was right on other fraudsters/non ethical reporting companies (Concordia, Valeant) so he might be right about HCG when he is saying that 50% of their book is linked to Alberta … where defaults increased 20% Y/Y.
BTW, Marc is a chicken farmer :-) yeah right!
buy backs?
http://www.reuters.com/investigates/section/the-cannibalized-company/
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How to game the SAT
“Because of the extent of the security breaches Reuters uncovered, admissions officers have no idea which of those foreign test-takers saw material in advance.”
http://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/college-sat-one/
Interesting thing about this is that realtors DO have the information you discuss, however it is not openly revealed to purchasers. I remember purchasing my house in Toronto and trying to get the following information from the realtor:
1. When the seller bought the house.
2. What the seller paid for the house.
This information was not possible to get and I was told that it was confidential and could not be released to me. However the realtor did have it.
Realtors in Toronto are actively engaged in buying and selling houses for a profit.
If they have information that the ordinary home buyer does not, and they are acting as brokers in the market and also trading themselves in the same market, what exactly is that?
Bahahaha markets imagine knowing what a fair price is. Right there isn’t a group that front runs your trade or manipulates data to make dollars and now big corps don’t have to release real numbers if they’re a strategic part of the country security. Worse the new gov is gonna attack it own citizens with revenue Canada and brag they found people who owed more than they showed and try and paint them as criminals. All while our big gov struts around and think its owed to them. Feels like we’re circling the drain.
STEM.
Science, Technology, Engineering, Math