http://pauljohnston.com

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Intelligence and independence of thought are not directly correlated. Many of my acquaintances who are highly specialized intellectually are people who I would rate quite low on a scale for independence or intellectual curiosity outside their specialized field. I think Malcom Gladwell explains it pretty well in "The Tipping Point" when he talks about Mavens. Many of us here have what he calls the "Maven" personality (I know I do). Mostly in my experience Mavens are quite intelligent people but not all intelligent people are Mavens.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maven

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It's a strange conflict between realtors, as one sells and another buys. Two realtors representing two opposing sides to a sale. Vs. say a used car salesman who represents himself (the seller) and then you, the buyer, on your own.

The common interest of both sides to a real estate transaction is the sale itself and the price. Both gain when there are sales. Grain of salt for sure.

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http://www.nvcondos.realpagemaker.com/aPage.jsp?a…

For the month of November Greater Vancouver has been averaging 48 condo/house sales a day. Unless sales pick up, we are on track to sell only 912 for the entire month (compared to almost 3000 last year)

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His card says he has been in the business for more than 20 years.

The funny thing is that he is a very sharp guy. He knew a lot about the area and what to look for in a house, etc. And he had a nice edge about him–the kind of hardass you want negotiating on your side.

To me, it just goes to show that it's not just idiots that buy in to the Party line. Not every Jonestown cult member was a moron; even intelligent people have a curious myopia at times. Or maybe this realtor was the one handing out the koolaid…

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Hey Mike, what's the matter? Did the bitter renting bears chase you off of Chipman's site? You have a brilliant marketing campaign going on here Mikey, it's so smart to go and trash talk the bitter renting bears when they're probably some of the only people who'll be buying anything from your ilk in the next few years.

Things must be very slow for you to suddenly spend your days regaling anonymous blog posters with your "very nice offers" you're presenting on downtown condos. Why don't you go chase down some unemployed condo workers maybe they're looking to get into the condo flipping game in their spare time.

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Check this one out.

In today's Vancouver Province.

http://www.canada.com/theprovince/news/story.html…

" Owners of two condo complexes in BC have lost substantial amounts from their reserve funds after making risky investments ".

I wonder how much of that goes on….tip of the iceberg?

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Are you the same anonymous? This is demonstrating the problem with multiple anonymous posts. Why should I lift a finger to help someone who called me names?

Or were you asking a poster named "Someone"?

That little jab out of the way, and just so other posters who know me as Alexcanuck will continue to respect both my sagacity and magnanimity, are you looking for this?

I think WBWYCDecideToChangeYourNameYetAgain (who has earned my respect) adapted it and put it up first.

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