The Editor:
It surprises me to find such a biased letter in the Estevan Mercury about a subject as important to most families and property owners as the value of their property.
I find the letter to be barren of real fact but high on uninformed and inexperienced opinions.
I hope your paper and readers take a closer look at what is factual and what is not.
Firstly, if the banks were, in fact, polled about their opinion about real estate prices, they would be the first to admit they do not affect prices as their specialty is lending money, not selling or buying real estate.
The statement that real estate agents are trying to hold prices high and at a premium level is written by a very uninformed person. The only people determining the asking prices are the property owners and definitely not real estate agents who have no direct control over prices. Prices are determined by supply and demand.
It doesn’t make sense that agents, by keeping prices inflated, would create a condition where property wouldn’t sell and, of course, if property doesn’t sell, real estate agents have no way of recovering their costs or making a living.
To say prices have dropped $100,000 across the board is based on no solid information. The Real Estate Association keeps track of price fluctuations and perhaps the writer should have discovered the truth before printing an illogical statement.
Further, to say bank appraisals are lower than real estate industry appraised prices could only be determined if all the banks were polled as well as all the local real estate agencies and it’s obvious that didn’t happen.
The property owners of Estevan can be thankful the writer is not affecting the outcome of their property sale. Based on the lack of real knowledge and information, the real estate market in Estevan would soon be in disarray.
Jack Wruth
President and GM
Re/Max Blue Chip Realty
Yorkton, Sask.
