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Unread 4 Dec 2006, 00:45   #29
Dante Hicks
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Join Date: Jun 2001
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Dante Hicks has ascended to a higher existance and no longer needs rep points to prove the size of his e-penis.Dante Hicks has ascended to a higher existance and no longer needs rep points to prove the size of his e-penis.Dante Hicks has ascended to a higher existance and no longer needs rep points to prove the size of his e-penis.Dante Hicks has ascended to a higher existance and no longer needs rep points to prove the size of his e-penis.Dante Hicks has ascended to a higher existance and no longer needs rep points to prove the size of his e-penis.Dante Hicks has ascended to a higher existance and no longer needs rep points to prove the size of his e-penis.Dante Hicks has ascended to a higher existance and no longer needs rep points to prove the size of his e-penis.Dante Hicks has ascended to a higher existance and no longer needs rep points to prove the size of his e-penis.Dante Hicks has ascended to a higher existance and no longer needs rep points to prove the size of his e-penis.Dante Hicks has ascended to a higher existance and no longer needs rep points to prove the size of his e-penis.Dante Hicks has ascended to a higher existance and no longer needs rep points to prove the size of his e-penis.
Re: The housing market

Quote:
Originally Posted by roadrunner_0
Yes, estate agents want to get the best prices for the people involved
Not necessarily. Obviously higher prices for the seller mean higher commission for them, but that doesn't necessarily mean they are incentivised to always go for the highest price - three quickish sales of "low" value will probably earn them more money than two slower sales of "high" value (low / high in this sense relating to price paid compared to expectation not in absolute terms). This is discussed quite a bit by Steven Leavitt in Freakonomics with reference to some research done in this area.

But anyway, as nice as it would be to blame estate agents for high house prices the problem is obviously one of supply as has already been mentioned. Which is related to a whole range of issues (total supply of land obviously, but much more importantly the amount of building land, the planning process, consistent lack of investment in housing, history of rent control, restrictions placed on local authorities, blah, blah).

As I said earlier though, why the assumption that everyone should own? In the UK 68% (ish) people are owner occupiers - in Switzerland it's only about 30%. In a lot of continental Europe private renting is much more common than here, and if we had a little more professionalism in that sector it might become a lot more attractive choice.
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