So do it yourself then. If you'd sooner do that than pay decent wages then good luck to you! Where do you expect the "numbskulls" who work for you to live - if prices are going up and they end up with bigger mortgages (or higher rent) then they're going to want more money aren't they? Or are you proposing some sort of class system whereby only the elite benefit from rising house prices and everyone else has to suffer?

Anyone with an ounce of business acumen would know that, in this part of the world, you dont pay a labourer $20:00 an hour, plain and simple! If we all subscribed to that kind of stupidity, we would be tits up before you new it. As for your inference that I like to pay low wages, I am on record as paying wages similar to that in Calgary for my tradesmen. If a man wants to rise above the labour category, he needs to get some skills/education. If we were to pay people simply what they ask for, Tim Hortons would be paying coffee pourers $15:00 per hour like some of the other cities in the west.

maybe it's a case of "didn't" when the costs of living were lower......times change....

No, actually someone with business acumen would know that if everyone is asking for $20 an hour (lets remember that that's only GBP20k per year!) then that has become the "going rate". And if you are paying less than the going rate then you are paying "low wages", plain and simple!

It has nothing to do with level of skills/education - its a market forces thing (but I guess with all your business acumen you probably already knew that).

Although I have not started the work process in Saskatchewan so have no personal experience, I do know that wages are not high in this province. An aquaintance told me this week that she works for the Government in an office and is only on $19 an hour and has been working there for many years.

Its true. A laborer in Regina does not expect to start at 20$/hour. However for living in the jaw shouldn't there be some sort of compensation?

Looks like I am being baited into a union-v-management argument here, and that I refuse to do. Anyway, I don't like to duel with someone who's ill equipped to defend himself. Argument dismissed!

Mmmm, don't remember the last time there was a stabbing here.

I'd like to think we had that sort of Power, Real Estate Boards are not controlled by the Realtors, they are controlled by the permanent staff. You should hear committee members complain about their inability to effect change due to permanent staff member being against it. I think anyone who has been involved with that type of organization no mater which trade or profession will agree with me. In most City's there are 1000's of Realtors, you couldn't get them all to agree which day it is.

The value of a house is arrived at by comparing it with those that sold recently, that are similar. Naturally when house prices are rising the valuations will rise.

All Realtors should be happy to show you the comparibles that were used to get to the price. If not find one who will. I run a "CMA" (comparative market analysis) for my Buyer clients that so that they can see exactly what similar properties have sold for recently and make-up their own mind what to bid.

The trouble is after several weeks/months of looking for houses, putting in many offers that they have lost out on, people begin to get desperate, and finally its the person with the deepest pocket that wins the house, and actual value be damned. This is what is forcing up prices here in Winnipeg.

Its classic supply and demand.


Everyone thinks a market like this is good for Realtors, well its only good for those with the listing, for everyone else who is working with Buyers, its a pain in the rear. In a stable market you can show a client a few house, they pick one, you put an offer in, theres a bit of negotiation and thats it, done. NOT in this market though, we are showing multiple homes, writing offers that are rejected due to the intense competition, on and on and on it goes. It costs us way more now with a buyer than in a normal market, a hundred or so extra in commision due to house price rises no way makes up for all the extra work.

So I like many Realtors say "Let the Madness End".

A house is worth what a buyer is willing to pay for it.

No, it's worth what a bank is willing to lend for it.

If you don't believe me, imagine what houses would cost if there were no mortgages; how many people could raise $300,000 in cash to buy an average house?

You totally missed the point.

considering hte prices in ireland, i'm not surprised.

Now Holland, now that surprised me.