Dude, where’s my house? Winnipeg man charged with theft after house disappears
A Winnipeg property owner decided to visit a tenant in his revenue home to find out why they hadn’t been paying the rent. When he arrived on the scene, he discovered a parking lot where his house was supposed to be.
It seems that the owner was approached by a man in May of 2006 who was interested in purchasing the property so that it could be turned into a parking lot for the apartment building located next door. No deal was ever struck to sell the property. Nevertheless, the prospective purchaser must have felt confident that a deal could be done so he took it upon himself to evict the tenant and secured the necessary paperwork to facilitate the homes destruction. Not one to be bothered by details, he apparently moved forward with the demolition and completed his parking lot.
The accused faces charges of theft of property values at more than $5,000 and mischief causing more than $5,000 damage.
I’ve seen my share of motivated buyers over the years but this one truly takes the cake. You have to wonder how he ever thought that he might get away with this stunt. I guess some people just have more balls than brains.
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Norm Fisher
Royal LePage Saskatoon Real Estate
15 comments so far. We'd love to hear your thoughts.
April 7th, 2009 at 2:43 PM
I was just reading the Saturday National post and your in it congrats good article.
April 7th, 2009 at 2:43 PM
Thanks for the heads up on that Scott. I’ll have to go find a copy tomorrow.
April 7th, 2009 at 2:43 PM
Here’s the article: http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/financialpost/story.html?id=89532d80-4654-436c-8859-d72e89f14a85&k=75853
April 7th, 2009 at 2:43 PM
Thanks sdude. I tried to find a hard copy today but it seems they disappear pretty quickly once the newest issue comes out. I appreciate the link.
April 7th, 2009 at 2:44 PM
We are agents in the Atlanta Real Estate area, and we are researching blogs to find the right type of blog for our team. This is a very nice blog with tons of information. Keep up the good work.
April 7th, 2009 at 2:44 PM
Oh, ohh! Watch out Norm.
Your casual, honest, yet formal style is going to be duplicated and mass produced into a “blog business tactic”.
You’d better start trademarking, copyrighting and consulting how to run a real estate blog before someone beats you to the punch!
April 7th, 2009 at 2:44 PM
Great article. Progress can not be stopped.
April 7th, 2009 at 2:45 PM
wow Norm! I guess this might be one of the draw backs to being an absentee landlord. I occasionally run into people who ask me to sell property they don’t own but I have to admit I have never encountered a buyer who is this aggressive.
April 7th, 2009 at 2:45 PM
Hi T,
Yes, I’ve heard of buyers who started to move, or even renovate before possession but never one who knocked the place down prior to buying.
April 7th, 2009 at 2:46 PM
The house was a crack house and its good it was torn down because the people in Winnipeg core are good for burning them down … but seriously you meen it took over a year for the landlord to call police cmon smells fishy even for Winnipeg probably insurance scammm
April 7th, 2009 at 2:46 PM
A Sebus,
Thanks for the comment. I think it was just over a year since the first contact between the two parties. Seems to me that the tenant stopped paying rent more recently.
April 7th, 2009 at 2:47 PM
Great article. It always amazes me to hear how people do some of the stupidest things. Real estate fraud can be pretty slick and cover the tracks of the perpetrator, to a point, but this is just plain dumb. I hope his insurance was paid up.
April 7th, 2009 at 2:47 PM
Norm – Thanks for the laugh. I can see another village is missing its idiot.
April 7th, 2009 at 2:48 PM
sounds odd even for winnipeg I have read that the seller was the one who agreed on the sale and sold the proprty to the guy after the article the house appraised at 33000.00 according to the article and the buyer bought the house at 80000.00seems to me someones not telling the truth I smell extortion is that still legalllll?
April 7th, 2009 at 2:48 PM
Braiden Harvey Says Very good read thanks.
Braiden Harvey
Winnipeg
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