This ongoing scam usually targets houses that are legitimately for sale. Online fraudsters grab details of the home from an Internet posting and advertise the home for rent, typically requesting a very reasonable deposit and a pretty attractive monthly rent. The “owner” will almost certainly be out of the country right now, or otherwise unavailable to show you the home in person and will suggest that you “just drive by and have a look from the outside.”

When you see what an amazing deal it is, you quickly agree to his/her terms and forward the requested deposit, which of course, you never see again.

Don’t “rent” a property that you can’t get access to. If you view a home and want to rent it, don’t be afraid to ask the person showing you the property for some form of identification. If they won’t provide it, be suspicious. Never do this kind of a deal online.

Norm Fisher
Royal LePage Saskatoon Real Estate

Love them or hate them, any opportunity to expose your home to buyers should be taken seriously. Even if they don’t do you much good, they can’t hurt. Can they?

They can hurt if you’re a victim of theft and make no mistake, incidents of theft do occur at open houses, even here in Saskatoon. According to a bulletin issued by the Saskatoon Region Association of Realtors® yesterday, one unfortunate Saskatoon home seller came up short after their weekend open house when about $800 worth of personal effects walked out the door with a “prospective buyer.”

If you’re having an open house, understand that’s it’s not going to be possible for your Realtor® host to be everywhere at once. If there’s more then one prospect in the house, someone is going to be unattended. Your would-be thief may even arrive as two adorable looking couples. One of them engages your agent with lots of questions of interest while the other explores the home. Texting technology would make it very simple for one to cover the other. “He’s coming your way now!”

As is so often the case, the best defense is a solid offense. Prior to your open house, ensure that all valuables that could be easily slipped into a pocket or under a coat are securely stored or removed from the home. The odds of someone walking off with your 60-inch television or your dining room table are pretty slim. The most popular items are for thieves are cash, jewellery, prescription drugs, liquor, entertainment media, firearms, collectibles and small electronics.

When that’s all done, check these tips for a successful open house.

Best wishes.

I’m always happy to answer your Saskatoon real estate questions. All of my contact info is here. Please feel free to call of email me.

Get the most current market intelligence with our FREE Market Snapshot including prices of homes recently sold in your area. Get it here, now.

Norm Fisher
Royal LePage Saskatoon Real Estate

One of the characteristics of an MLS® listing is an “offer of compensation.” The listing brokerage agrees to share the negotiated commission with any other brokerage that might bring a buyer who agrees to purchase the property. That offer of compensation is published with the listing data on the member based MLS® system.  In most cases, the compensation offered gets lower as the price of the home goes up. Most commonly, we’ll see something like what you see below.

3% on the first $100,000, 2% on the second $100,000 and 1% on the balance of the sale price.

Recently, I noticed an MLS listing priced at $399,900 with the following compensation offer.

0% on the first $350,000, 25% on the next $50,000 and 3% on the balance of the sale price.

If you were about to make an offer on this house would you want to know that your agent could be earning nearly two times the commission available on most listings in this price range? Would you want to know that your agent would earn an extra $250 for every additional $1,000 you agreed to pay?

Should you be entitled to full disclosure on this extraordinary and unusual compensation offer?

I think most buyers would want to know and I’m also of the opinion that they’d be entitled to know. Don’t be afraid to ask your buyer’s agent how he or she is paid and instruct them to advise you if you’re about to make an offer on a property that has any selling incentives or extraordinary compensation offers available on it. Better yet, understand that you’re really paying the fee and agree up front on how much it will be.

I’m always happy to answer your Saskatoon real estate questions.  All of my contact info is here. Please feel free to call or email.

Real estate geeks can follow our daily updates on Twitter @norm_fisher.

Our Saskatoon home search tool offers MLS listings represented by all real estate brands, presented with more detail than you’ll find anywhere else. Check it out here.

Norm Fisher
Royal LePage Saskatoon Real Estate

Legal documents obtained exclusively by CBC News allege the bank was the target of a sophisticated fraud operated by 14 inter-connected groups. The documents allege the scheme generated at least $140 million, about $70 million of which was for phoney mortgages.

Read more here.

Update: BMO’s fraud claims won’t be probed (Police decline on criminal investigation).

I’m always happy to answer your Saskatoon real estate questions. All of my contact info is here. Please feel free to call or email.

Norm Fisher
Royal LePage Saskatoon Real Estate

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.

I’m always happy to answer your Saskatoon real estate questions.  All of my contact info is here. Please feel free to call or email.

Follow our daily updates on Twitter @SaskatoonHomes.

Norm Fisher
Royal LePage Saskatoon Real Estate

This is not exactly important real estate news but I couldn’t resist writing a small snip about this story.

It seems that the popular A&E reality program, “Flip This House” has run a number of episodes which amount to nothing more than a sham. Featuring self proclaimed “real estate developer” Sam Leccima, the episodes represent his renovation projects as having been sold for huge profits. As it turns out, most of them haven’t actually sold and at least one of them wasn’t actually renovated.

To make matters worse, it’s clear that Sam Leccima is the target of a number of civil suits from prospective investors who trusted him to invest their money wisely. One gentleman claims to have lost $100,000 to the smooth talking television celebrity.

A&E claims to have no knowledge of the sham and they have pulled all episodes which feature Leccima from their re-run schedule.

Thanks to Doug Quance for the heads up on this bit. Doug is an Atlanta based agent who has been on top of this home town story since October of last year when he noticed some of Sam’s sold properties were still listed for sale.

I’m always happy to answer your Saskatoon real estate questions.  All of my contact info is here. Please feel free to call or email.

Follow our daily updates on Twitter @SaskatoonHomes.

Norm Fisher
Royal LePage Saskatoon Real Estate

The front page of today’s Star Phoenix says, “Tenants feel pinch: Heated market driving increases in rental charges.”

The story references the predicament of a Saskatoon woman, Marilyn LePage who faces her third rent increase in the last twelve months. She has written a letter to city council asking, “What can be done to keep rent increases and frequencies under control for myself and other Saskatoon citizens?”

The answer she received was sure to disappoint as council made it clear that “rent controls” fall outside of the local jurisdiction. City solicitor Theresa Dust reminded those present of past attempts by the province to place controls on rents and noted that it produced “poor results.”

This is one of the sad realities of a real estate market which is experiencing a growth spurt. It affects almost everyone, and those who don’t own their own home can be affected the most. They not only move further away from owning a home due to increased cost of housing, but they inevitably pay the price in higher rental costs as market values increase.

I expect that we’ll hear many more stories like Ms. LePage’s over the coming year. East-side apartment style condos are now selling in excess of $130,000. An investor who purchases such a unit with 25% down will face carrying costs of over $850 per month not including maintenance or insurance. At present, that same unit has a market rent of about $700. Assuming the unit is occupied every month of the year, the landlord is a couple of thousand dollars shy of covering expenses. They won’t be excited about that for very long.

At the same time, vacancy rates are falling across the city and that trend is expected to continue as more people move back to Saskatoon. Condo conversions will likely remove a number of units from the rental market over the next two years.

Ultimately, rents are subject to the principle of supply and demand just like resale real estate is. More renters and fewer rental units equal higher rent payments. It’s pretty much unavoidable.

Read the Star Phoenix story here

I’m always happy to answer your Saskatoon real estate questions.  All of my contact info is here. Please feel free to call or email.

Follow our daily updates on Twitter @SaskatoonHomes.

Norm Fisher
Royal LePage Saskatoon Real Estate

It seems that a British Columbia woman has been sentenced to serve two years of probation in Saskatoon after she pleaded guilty to seven counts each of credit card fraud and possessing stolen credit card data, one count of theft under $5,000, two counts of breaching an undertaking and two counts of failing to appear.

A judge ordered her to “board a bus” and head for Saskatoon. Apparently, he wants her as far away as possible from her former boyfriend and he thought Saskatoon would be the perfect spot for her to begin addiction treatments and rehabilitate herself.

Saskatoon really is a great place to live. You can’t help but wonder what the rest of the world thinks when they start sentencing people to live here.

Norm Fisher

Royal LePage Saskatoon Real Estate

Sharon, a real estate investor from Calgary, Alberta occasionally visits my blog. If I recall correctly, she contacted me after she read one of my little rants about poor quality images in real estate listings. From time to time, she forwards copies of listed properties which strike her as ridiculous in some way. She has no shortage of material to chose from so she uses her discretion in sending me those which are most fun.

Her latest email was this listing (no longer available), marketed by a Calgary agent who indicates on the listing that it is a “No Animal Home.” This image of the kitchen appears to show two food dishes on the floor in front of the kitchen cabinets. I’m thinking that these people either have a pet, or some pretty nasty eating habits.

Sharon asks, “What are they thinking!?”

Sharon, I think it’s safe to say that someone is not thinking very much.

I heard a story today that left me so incensed, that I couldn’t resist repeating it.

Some time ago, a local church built “a 15 story high-rise building offering enriched housing for seniors.” Apparently, the building is managed by “a voluntary board (hereinafter referred to as the board) independent of the church. The building contains 109 suites, 36 are subsidized rental units and the remaining 73 are “life interest lease suites.” For those unfamiliar with the life lease concept, a buyer buys the right to use the unit for their lifetime. When they are finished with the home, it’s sold back to the original owner, usually a non-profit organization, and the price is determined based on terms outlined in the lease document.

Here’s the story as it’s told to me by the daughter of a senior couple (hereinafter referred to as John and Mary) who purchased a life lease in the building. I have not seen the documents involved in this transaction.

It seems that in 1989, John and Mary had reached their senior years and decided that they were ready for condo living. They purchased a life lease for $83,000 and happily settled in. At the time of the purchase, their lawyer expressed some concern regarding the ambiguity of the resale clause which stated that John and Mary were obliged to sell their interest back to the board when they were ready to sell at a price “hereon depending upon the conditions prevailing” at the time of the sale. Apparently, the documents do not indicate what “conditions” the price is dependent on. I expect most would agree that “real estate market conditions” would be the obvious inference. Comfortable that they were dealing with the church, John and Mary felt good about moving forward. They did.

In 1998, John passed away and Mary was a widow at 78 years of age. Sometime in early 1999, Mary gets a call from the board. As she tells the story, she’s allegedly told that her documents have to be updated to remove John’s name from the life lease. Mary is all too happy to oblige and signs the documents placed before her with the understanding that the only alterations to her original agreement are the names.

Mary’s most recent statement from the board is dated January, 2005 and it shows the “current market value” of her unit being $100,300. Between 1989 and 2005, the average selling price of an east-side condominium has increased 62%. For some reason, Mary’s unit has only increased by 20%. Further, it seems that some provision in her contract entitles the board to 50% of her equity gain. If true, this reduces her total return to just 10%.

Mary’s daughter is not pleased. She’s particularly troubled by the claim of entitlement to half of Mom’s equity, so she starts digging for paperwork. Lo and behold she comes across the original purchase agreement, and the updated agreement which was executed in 1999. She’s unable to find any clause which specifically addresses a sharing of the equity, but she notices that the first and second agreements are not the same. Where the initial agreement stated that the selling price was “hereon depending upon the conditions prevailing,” the second agreement has additional wording which states the price is to be determined at the “sole discretion” of the board.

It seems that the board has also contracted themselves with an “irrevocable assignment” to act as her attorney to deal with and make all decisions related to the disposition of the property.

Of course, I’m not a lawyer so I suggested that Mary’s daughter might want to meet with one real soon.

I’m always happy to answer your Saskatoon real estate questions.  All of my contact info is here. Please feel free to call or email.

Follow our daily updates on Twitter @SaskatoonHomes.

Norm Fisher
Royal LePage Saskatoon Real Estate

Mean time, the number of potential buyers continues to mount. There are plenty of motivated buyers waiting in the wings for these types of premium homes. One of those buyers is certainly prepared to pay more than anyone else for one of these two homes. At least, that’s pretty much how it works in most cases. The only problem is, both homes are currently sold, pending unknown conditions. At the time I write this blog, neither listing has yet found its way to MLS® Online. The listings will appear there tomorrow, a day late and a dollar short.

Of course, the question running through my mind is, how much money did these sellers miss out on by accepting an offer before most of the market could even get away from work? This, we’ll never know. Perhaps they somehow managed to connect with that buyer who was willing to pay the most, but I doubt it. Why would anyone accept an offer before the market knows their house is for sale? To me, it’s simply mind boggling. Any thoughts?

Read also: How to Get Serious Buyers Lining Up at Your Door

I’m always happy to answer your Saskatoon real estate questions.  All of my contact info is here. Please feel free to call or email.

Follow our daily updates on Twitter @SaskatoonHomes.

Norm Fisher
Royal LePage Saskatoon Real Estate

The charge resulted from actions Grover allegedly took “to falsify” inspection records which would have indicated that timely property inspections had occurred prior to a fire at his rental property at 214 Avenue E North which killed three-year-old Isabelle Bowron and her infant sister Jordynn in March, 2005. One other adult, Curtis Gifford suffered permanent brain damage from the fire. Jennifer Bowron, mother of the children who perished, along with her three-year-old son William were burned.

The day after the fire, Grover approached the grandmother of the dead children at the hospital and asked her to sign inspection records indicating that timely inspections had been performed, as the law requires. She refused. Grover was later charged and convicted of attempting to falsify records.

In a 2 to 1 ruling, the Court of Appeal concluded that there was “no evidence” that Grover actually knew that the inspections had not been conducted.

Grover has a lengthy history of problems related to his Saskatoon real estate, a portfolio which includes single family homes and apartment buildings. In one five year period over 30 fires were reported at his properties. He’s been convicted of making a false or misleading statement, obstruction of justice, as well as other infractions under the Fire Prevention Act and Saskatoon’s fire bylaws.

Grover claims to be a victim of a fire department conspiracy and seems to sincerely believe that the system is just out to get him.

The first time I ever spoke with Jack Grover he was loudly singing halleluiahs and proclaiming himself a “Christian man.” Such public pronouncements, particularly those expressed during an introduction almost always leave me feeling suspicious and on my guard. He describes himself as a “very, very good man,” yet he seems to have no problem letting his tenants live in poorly maintained firetraps.

Will the death of two young children cause Grover to be filled with Christian conviction? Will he turn over a new leaf and work to improve the properties which he owns, for the sake of those unfortunate souls who have few options for housing?

Knowing what’s inside your credit report is more than just a good idea, it’s an essential element of any prudent financial plan.

Identify theft continues to be a problem across the country. Thieves are racking up massive debts, using the good names and credit of their victims and leaving behind a financial mess that’s difficult to clean up. Keeping on top of your credit report will help you find out if someone is using your credit, hopefully before the creditors come knocking on your door, attempting to collect the debts that have accumulated in your name.

It seems there may be another good reason to be mindful of your credit report. CNN reported today that a number of employers in the U.S. are beginning to request credit reports from prospective employees. I’m not completely sure why they feel this is justified. I suspect that they would argue that a person’s credit worthiness speaks to that individual’s sense of responsibility, and perhaps their character. After all, the granting of credit is always based on the promise to repay. I don’t know if we’ll ever see this practice used here, but I see nothing in the Saskatchewan Human Rights Code which would prevent it.

Our province has a Credit Reporting Act which governs the types of information that credit reporting agencies can keep on you, and how long it can be kept for. The federal Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act states that you have a right to know what information credit reporting agencies have about you in their files.

There are two major credit reporting agencies which operate in Canada. They are Equifax and Trans Union. Both of them will have information in their files concerning your credit history. If you need to have the report today, both services offer an over the web credit report for around $15.00. They also offer a free credit report which is sent to you in the mail. The links below will take you right to the page of each agencies website where the options are presented. Why not get started on this today?

Equifax credit report

Trans Union credit report

Publication titled, “Understanding Your Credit Report and Credit Score” published by the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada.

I’m always happy to answer your Saskatoon real estate questions.  All of my contact info is here. Please feel free to call or email.

Follow our daily updates on Twitter @SaskatoonHomes.

Norm Fisher
Royal LePage Saskatoon Real Estate