# Goddamn home selling ruses **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [March 26, 2006, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goddamn-home-selling-ruses/349995 "2006-03-26T20:22:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2011, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goddamn-home-selling-ruses/349995/62 "2011-08-28T02:37:32Z")
Holy crap - that was the worst case of zombie-induced paradigm shift I’ve ever experienced. ---
**Author:** ![kushiel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bbce88/32.png) [@kushiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kushiel)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2011, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goddamn-home-selling-ruses/349995/63 "2011-08-28T02:51:08Z")
> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > This is about where we are, too. We bought a fairly good condition fixer-upper 2 1/2 years ago, before Calgary’s RE market went through the roof, and we would get anywhere from 30-40% higher than we paid for it already. But, we have a nice, low mortgage, at a nice, low interest rate - we cash this house in, and get into what? A mortgage that’s double what we’re paying now, for not much more house? > > Let me add my voice to the chorus saying offer what _you’re_ comfortable with, not what salespeople are trying to entice you into. You’ll be paying the mortgage, not them. And use the internet to watch your local houses. We knew when we were negotiating for this place that it had indeed sat on the market for about six months, and had dropped in price twice already. I’m definitely never going to be able to afford a house until my 30s. Regina, in 2006, had detached bungalows going for an average of $136,500. Now? $296,000. It’s going up 5-8% a year and isn’t slowing down. Zombie edit: How much has your house gone up, **Cat**? It’s gotta be almost double by now. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2011, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goddamn-home-selling-ruses/349995/64 "2011-08-28T03:55:54Z")
> [@kushiel](#): > > I’m definitely never going to be able to afford a house until my 30s. > > Regina, in 2006, had detached bungalows going for an average of $136,500. Now? $296,000. It’s going up 5-8% a year and isn’t slowing down. > > Zombie edit: How much has your house gone up, **Cat**? It’s gotta be almost double by now. We’ve been in our new (to us) house for two years now (almost to the day). We did sell our old house for almost double what we paid for it, but our new house is not increasing in value the same way - the market here has definitely levelled off here. Maybe it’s because so many people moved back to Saskatchewan and drove your prices up, **kushiel**. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Lancia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lancia/32/17174_2.png) [@Lancia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lancia)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2011, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goddamn-home-selling-ruses/349995/65 "2011-08-28T21:06:16Z")
> [@Lancia](#): > > Reported FTR I was reporting it for the spam that had appeared, not for being undead. Zombies don’t bother me, and as shown here, getting an update is sometimes worth raising the dead. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2011, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goddamn-home-selling-ruses/349995/66 "2011-08-29T15:01:14Z")
> [@Fiveyearlurker](#): > > Also, I have no problem with this per se. If you can get dumb people into a dumb bidding war, more power to you. But, when the smoke clears, and one offer is the highest, and is higher than your asking price, you should HAVE to take it. It’s quite possible their realtor would be entitled to the commission, in this situation. After all, the realtor’s job is to bring in an offer, and if that offer is full price or above then the realtor has demonstrably done his/her job. I remember once asking “so what if we got a cash offer, full price and for whatever reason we wanted to turn it down” and was told that in that case they’d probably demand the commission. This was a hypothetical (in a situation where we absolutely would NOT have turned down the offer), I was just curious. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goddamn-home-selling-ruses/349995.md?page=3)