JohnF

Are there any stats on how much police service time is wasted with pranks and arguing with folks who choose defending their constitutional rights (whether they understand 'em or not) over simply cooperating with the police officers so the issue can be resolved? I'm not saying the police are always right but watching the G20 nonsense in Toronto I saw a lot of folks wasting the cops' time with their righteous indignation when in fact they should have stepped back and let the police deal with the real troublemakers, or better yet, not been there at all. JF

Aw shucks. Thank you for the kind words. It really just comes down two things - taking pride in my profession (and I use that word reluctantly) and being lucky enuf to find a great bunch of folks to hang out with on OFC. I get a lot of entertainment and knowledge from my association with OFC folks and if I can put something back in that's of value, then great. I know there are a lot of people out there who are reluctant to get involved with my industry and I understand why given the amount of negative commentary that goes around about us real estate people. Sure, some is warranted. After all, there are approximately 50,000 licenced people in Ontario and some are bound to be less than impressive. Unfortunately it paints all of us with the same brush and I figure I have to do what I can to offset that. Buying and selling real estate invariably involves a lot of emotion for the participants and it's gotta be tough for someone already filled with nerves & trepidation to feel comfortable putting so much trust in a salesperson they don't even know. I get that. It's why so many of you have been in touch with me privately to discuss personal real estate problems. And it's why I'm happy to help. There's a kind of bond formed among us in this group and in other similar groups. In fact there's a whole enterprise out there called affinity marketing (or simply networking) which tries to identify groups with related interests and encourage them to deal with their own kind for this very reason. Often it involves some form of discount as well but the key to it is the bonding through common interests. JF

I'm envious. I'm lucky to grow dandelions. JF

Be happy to help if I can. Bound to be ways to save you at least a little money. JF

[quote name='Harrison' date='09 July 2010 - 07:52 PM' timestamp='1278719533' post='483952' JohnF has also given me great advice. Hey. I saw you in your OFC avatar. Yer way too young to be making real estate decisions by yerself. I hope the advice helped. JF

Thanks Dan. I appreciate that. JF

I guess that's the difference between you and me. You reached our age with maturity. I just got older. JF

Essentially right, but it's because private sellers too often make the mistake of setting too low a price, or at least setting a price they can't live with if they ended up listing the property. Remember that the main reason buyers look for FSBO's is so they can beat the price down by the commission. And why are the sellers doing it themselves - to save the commission? Both the sellers and the buyers have a perfect strategy - save the commission. Someone is gonna be let down. The fact is there's only one fair market value for every property, not one for a private sale and one for an mls sale. If you can sell for market value and pocket the money you would have otherwise paid a brokerage then you win. But what have you saved if you simply take the commission off the top and sell for much less than fair market value? The only winner is then the buyer and you've done a bunch of extra work and risked an expensive mistake thru inexperience for absolutely nothing. I always chuckle at the For Sale By Owner packaging companies who get your attention by saying "Save the commission" and then explain to you that you can facilitate the sale by reducing the price by the amount you would have otherwise paid a REALTOR. That's haing yer cake and eating it too. I have a letter that was sent to one of my clients that says exactly that. They got a big kick out of it and couldn't wait to give it to me. The local FSBO franchisee says in the letter (all within one paragraph) that they could save the commission and also reduce the price by exactly 5% (they did the math for the sellers based on my list price) to make it easier to sell. I guess it's something millionaires don't fall for. As Ryan has said I've been trying to help him out with advice for quite a while now which I'm happy to do. In fact we're trying to arrange a day of fishing so we can talk about it some more. Y'all might be surprised at how many pm's I get from all over Ontario asking for advice and I do my best to answer them as conscientiously as I can. We REALTORS don't always have to be greedy but that being said, we'd be fools not to defend the reputation and integrity of our business. In most cases it's our only job and what puts the bread on the table after all. There's nothing wrong with trying to sell your own properties, guys. There's enough business out there for successful REALTORS to stay busy. In fact you can almost tell how successsful someone is in the business based on how threatened they are by FSBO's. But don't expect to go to a REALTOR when you've given up on finding your own buyer and expect him/her to work miracles with a price that has to be increased by a few percent, particularly in a smaller market where everybody knows everybody else and exactly what you were originally asking. The problem with this computer/internet age is that everyone is much better informed than a few years ago. The other problem is that when a new listing of any kind hits the market the first few days are the most critical for finding a buyer. Once we get past those few days the existing prospects have all had a look and are likely out of the running as buyers for whatever reasons. When we in the industry finally get a shot at it we've lost the chance to do what we do best with all those folks who checked it out before we were there. Selling is what we do. I trust mechanics to fix my cars, plumbers to fix my pipes, etc etc because they generally know what they're doing and I know I'll get the job done properly and expeditiously the first time. This advice I probably already have, and certainly will again share with Ryan. Jeez. I might have just done myself out of a day of Long Point fishing. I should shut up. JF

You might be right. I think she was less excited about the emergency necklace idea than I was. JF

She tells everybody I'm adopted. JF

I'll get a kick out of passing that on to some of my clients. I expect their responsibilities running their respective companies along with the diminished mental capacity might make it tough to handle the sale as well. Sorry. You got me with a double whammy there. A cheap shot at my industry on top of an even cheaper shot at the mentally handicapped. JF

I drive that stretch of highway a lot and am always impressed, if that's the right word, by how fast traffic moves and how easy it is to get caught up in the rush. JF

She really is a lady, in the truest sense of the word. Would that I could get thru life with the same balance of dignity and humour. And she's one of the kindest, most considerate people you'll ever meet. Dunno how she kept her sense of style surrounded by us but she did. JF

Dunno if I've ever posted this but it's Gabby and our son Matt on her birthday at our place. JF

That she is. She doesn't let the 93 years hold her back much, at least not in the head department. The body's a different thing so she spends a lot of time in her chair at home. She went through a little bout with breast cancer a few years ago and she made us promise not to tell anyone about it until after she was back home. She didn't want folks fussing over her. Of course it's a different story if she hears someone else is having a tough time. She's right into the kitchen baking cookies (she makes the world's best shortbread) and filling casserole dishes to tide them over till life gets normal again. We're pretty damned proud of her. JF

I mentioned a while back that my wife had taken a header in the river and she wasn't impressed that I completely missed her dilemma, so engrossed was I in my fishing. She must have told my 93 year old mom (Gabby we call her) and mom put her poetry writing skills to work and created this card. It arrived today with two Fox40 whistles.

I know it's just cockeyed optimism but I hope I live to see the day when we have just one truly "responsible" government. I have no idea how it can even begin to happen with the cynicism & corrup attitude so prevalent in our various levels of government, but hey, I can hope. JF

I'm told tip sensitivity is the main thing. JF

I wuz only asking cuz there have been times when the bass might have spotted me with a stogie hanging outa my face and I'd hate for them to think I'd put anything but a cigar between my lips. JF

Do bass also believe that sometimes a cigar is just a cigar? JF

I dunno. It was that "anything but these guys" mentality that got us the NDP mess years back. We've almost got all the lasting evidence cleaned up though. JF

I can't wait to hear who you want to vote in. Our political world is awash in "little poodles" and all we get to choose between is the kind of poodle crap we have to live with. JF

The best I've come up with is to fish where they never were with bait that never worked. JF

I keep wondering how long the common folk will continue to abide the celebrity multi-million dollar a year athletes. The ticket prices seem to balloon at about the same rate as the players' personal belief that they're far more than just walking tattoo billboards blessed with a big body and extraordinary talent. The thing is that the talent is for one thing only. They blunder thru life generally shooting holes in their heroic image, sometimes literally, and expect the hero worship to never end. At the end of the day does it really matter to the unwashed masses if that big round ball goes thru the hoop a bunch of times while they struggle to deal with mortgage payments of less than these guys spend for a night on the town & driving 15 year old junkers while their heroes drive custom Bentleys with 21" wheels individually worth more than the junker in it's entirety. One day the world will come to it's senses and say "enuf's enuf" to the misguided heroes. But that's just my opinion, and in all fairness it can also be said about hockey and every other sport we hold dear. We complain that corporate presidents and board chairmen of huge multinationals are overpaid making often just hundreds of thousands of dollars but occasionally they get to the salaries of the upper echelon of professional sports. At least they're a part of a productive enterprise whether we like 'em or not. It would be interesting to compare the job creation reality of GM and it's peripheral industries compared to the NBA. I may be surprised at how many jobs the NBA creates. I wouldn't be surprised if many of them are off-shore related to souvenirs and logowear etc. At least GM creates jobs in North America. End of rant. JF

Good job Rick. It was a truck driver with the same kind of me first attitude who killed our son. You can understand why I'm not at all sympathetic.