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Not to mention protection, the oldest and best reason to pay taxes. If we lived without taxes (ie in a state of anarchy) any warlord could come and take your things, your family, your life at a whim. People who whine about taxes as much as islander are just too stupid to consider the alternatives.

But then islander's already proven his lack of intelligence by proposing that, if no services were offered to homeless people, they'd all just go away.

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uh, we get health care and fire services and library services and road maintenance and police in return for the taxes. what do you offer?

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Sold stickers are only supposed to go on once the deal is firm.

It's possible, even after all conditions are waived, for a buyer to decline to follow through on a transaction. There are consequences, of course, but it's not unheard of. So a Sold sticker could get peeled off.

shikko Says:

July 31st, 2008 at 9:46 am

Are there any similarities between the flickered “for sale” signs? Same realty group, for example? This will help us determine if it’s mass stupidity (many realty offices) or willful deceit (a few realty offices).

I have fired more realtors (both with and without the ™) than I’ve worked with, mostly for reasons just like this: sheer incompetence, which is the professional manifestation of stupidity.

some supercilious tool said…It’s my opinion that practically all realtors get into the business because they’ve found they’re not fit for anything else. While in school, not one person I talked to ever said “I’m going to be a REALTOR™ after I graduate!” People don’t choose the profession, they back into it.

Nobody forces anybody to use a realtor. Sell your own house. Buy a house on your own. Fill yer boots. Why so much bitterness?

People pay, what, a few thousand bucks once every 5-25 years to sell their biggest asset. But they pay tens of thousands of dollars every year to the government. In the former instance, they have a choice to avoid realtor fees. In the latter instance, if they choose to avoid taxes they go to jail. Get your anger pointed in the right direction instead of being a whiny victim all your lives.

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Was last July not an unusually high number? Look at the historical data. To say this July is historically low is incorrect.

Okay, please look at this chart: http://tinyurl.com/5b66q4

Now please tell us what ruler or equation leads to the claim that 2400 (July 2008 sales) > 4900, 2750, 3600 (July 2007, 2006, 2005 sales respectively).

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"the historical data."

As I've been trying to point out (I guess I'm too subtle for you) 'history' means different things to different people.

It's completely accurate to say, "Historically Vancouver has had a population of under a thousand."

Or, "Historically Vancouver has had no real estate market. If you wanted a house you picked a nice piece of land and built one!"

You've got to specify what bit of history you mean and preferably provide some data.

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Do you mean Shiko Shiko?

Segoi!

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As long as you don't count recent history. Compared to July of last year sales have dropped by 41%:
http://paul-northvancouverhomes.blogspot.com/2008…

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