Did anybody see the article in the Saturday Star “New In Homes” section about phantom bids in real estate?

This article really shook up our office, as our own office manager was called into question in the article.

Here’s a brief summary of the findings…

The article in Saturday’s paper, titled “Bidding and Bitterness” profiles a man named Marc Semprie who has “bid” on four houses in the red-hot Toronto real estate market and lost.

There is my first problem.

You know the saying “You can make numbers say anything you want”?  Well, same goes for the wording used by an astute writer.  This man bid on several houses for sale, not offered on them.  When you say “bid,” you make it sound like an auction, which a multiple offer situation is not.  The seller reviews the offers all at the same time, and usually chooses the highest one.  That is NOT how an auction works…

Mr. Semprie goes on to suggest that underhanded tactics must be used since he has lost so many times.

This bothers me to no end; it’s like saying “I keep losing, so the other team must be cheating.”

How about this saying: “If you don’t like the game, then don’t play.”  Nobody is forcing this man to put in offers on Toronto properties, it is his choice.  People constantly complain about the way things are done, but they don’t offer any constructive criticsm.  Just critcism…

This article then shifts to the battle between Maureen O’Neill, the incoming Toronto Real Estate Board president (who also is the manager at our 276 Merton Street office) and Michael Manley, who lost the election to Mrs. O’Neill earlier this year.  Mr. Manley contends that phantom bids are common practice, and something must be done to stop it.  Mrs. O’Neill contends that while a few complaints have been registered here and there, this is far from an epidemic.

There were 1078 complaints received last year by the Real Estate Council of Ontario (RECO), and as Mrs. O’Neill puts it: “RECO estimates that an average of less than three complaints a year are specifically related to phantom offers.”

In my humble opinion, Mr. Manley is still rather bitter from his June election loss, and has decided to smear the real estate industry in every public forum that he possibly can.  He’s like the star wide receiver on a football team who despite his team’s victory, still tells reporters how frustrated he is with not getting enough passes thrown his way, and then proceeds to berrate his quarterback and coaches.

Mr. Manley does have a suggestion of how to combat this “problem.”  He contends that we need a system whereby all offers on a given property are registered in advance on a general medium such as the website that he is currently creating.  Currently, offers are registered with the real estate office representing the seller.  The question now becomes: who will police this new registry system?

Is it going to be Mr. Manley himself?

I’m sure that would look quite good on his resume…