Realtors REALLY Piss Me Off! 

posted by Odin on Feb 23, 2011

'For Sale' by lisbokt, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License

Just when I thought I couldn't hate real estate agents any more than I already did, they prove me wrong by pissing me off on a different level this time!

The reason I have always hated realtors is that I find them to be hot-headed, egotistical, not responsive and useless.  This is not to say they are ALL bad, but many of them are.

Their hot-headedness and egoism is my personal opinion, I admit.  As for the non-responsiveness, I believe that many of us, while using a realtor to buy a home, can attest to how they often show you listings that are way above your budget, or that dont fit at all your specifications, as portrayed in the following conversation:

Buyer: "I am not looking for a fixer-upper.  I want something move-in-ready."
Realtor: "Just imagine the possibilities."

No!  I do not want to imagine anything!  Thanks for wasting both of our times with this useless visit!

Or, I love it when you tell them you am looking for a 3-bedroom for example, and they take you to a listing that says 2+1 bedrooms, only for you to find out once on site that the +1 is not really a bedroom, but a corner or tiny den that is usually impossible to make into a separate bedroom.

As for their uselessness, I have already addressed this in a previous blog entry.  I still believe that with total availability and dissemination of information, as demonstrated by websites such as MLS, ComFree and others, realtors' role and value will diminish because we will all have access to the same information they have been trying to protect for decades.

More recently, however, several agents have really gotten under my nerves by sending me emails complaining about comments left on their listings on SeekOdin.  Some have even insulted me, my business and threatened to take legal action against me if I do not remove the comments in question, which they think are defamatory.

Let me first state that I always filter out any comment or part of a comment that is actually defamatory.  I admit that some comments left are out of place, insulting, useless and not in the spirit of SeekOdin.  I do not need to be threatened to filter those out, which I do on a constant basis.  However, none of the comments brought up by those complaining agents are actually defamatory.  They all speak to the poster's frustration while using the services of the realtors in question.

I have never received any communication nearly as ridiculous, offensive and menacing as the ones I regularly receive from realtors from a professional under any of the other category of services listed on SeekOdin (accountants, lawyers, mechanics, plumbers ...), even though many of them have much more negative comments left on their listings.

I will not name those agents, but they know who they are.  Rather than satisfy their childish demands and delete the "offensive" comments in question, I have decided to remove their listings altogether.  Why should a "professional" that cannot accept criticism gain exposure on a site that gets well over five thousand unique visitors a month?  It is their loss, if you want my opinion.  That, plus the fact that I do not have time to keep answering their pesky and insulting emails, let alone go to court for the sake of their inflated egos.

I want those agents to know that the reason I have sort-of "caved in" at the end, is not so much to protect myself and my business, because in the end, it is not I that am "defaming" them, as they like to charge.  It is rather the honest Montrealers that contribute to my site by leaving comments.  For that, I thank them for their participation.  If ever a case gets big enough to go to court, I would most likely receive a court order to give out the IP address used when an offending comment was left.  So in the end, it is the users of my website that will lose, not me.  And that is something I will never let happen.

Needless to say, those agents have demonstrated their non-professionalism, their lack of openness and complete inability to take any sort of criticism.  And THAT is why I believe they are hot-headed and egotistical.

Canada's Tire Change Woes 

posted by Odin on Sep 06, 2010

'damon's car, meet snow' by hradcanska, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License

Now that summer is over, and winter is approaching, the tire change deadline looms on my mind, and reminds me of my experience last year.

As I am certain that nobody reads my infrequently-updated blog on a regular basis, I will remind the reader that I had bought a new car last year in September. A month later, I was surprised to learn that car owners were now obliged to put winter tires during the predefined winter season (I was living temporarily in France during the previous winter, so I was not aware of this law passing).

So now all car owners are required to factor in the price of two sets of tires when considering the total cost of ownership of their car. And of course, I had to buy a 17-inch wheeler, thus adding up significantly to this cost.

I had never really purchased any tires in Canada before, and so after shopping around a bit, I discovered that the tire market seems very narrow and highly non-competitive (as are all other markets in Canada apparently). The conclusion was that I could not find any decent 17-inch winter tire for under $150 a tire. So I was looking at a minimum price tag of $690 for the set, after taxes. No small amount by any measure.

But then I remembered that I was driving to New York City a couple weeks before the winter tire deadline. I was sure that I could get a better price down there. After a few minutes spent on TireRack.com, I found an amazing set of 17-inch tires for $95 each. The same ones went for $165 at Canadian Tire! How ridiculous is that? I am not going to factor in currency variations as the two dollars have been fluctuating close to parity for a while now.

I would have to be insane not to take advantage of the price difference. Over the entire set, I was looking at $380 instead of $660! Plus, I was below my Canadian customs quota of $400 for an absence over 48 hours, so I wouldn't have to pay any duties on bringing the tires in from the US.

So I placed the order, drove down to New York and was on my way back to Canada after having spent the weekend away. Obviously the customs agent couldn't help but notice four very large bags sitting in the back of my car (17-inchers, remember). He asked me how much they cost. I said $380 all inclusive. He didn't believe me. I didn't have a bill since the tires were ordered online.

After a bit of persuasion, he let me through. However, he also warned me that I should have printed the bill to prove the price. What annoys me is the lack of trust and the assumption he made that I "had" to be lying. Why else would I buy the tires from the US if it weren't for the fact that they are so much cheaper down there?

Anyhow, I hope that everyone in Quebec would follow my example and buy their winter tires from the US. We need to teach our local suppliers that we will find other ways of getting what we want if they insist on raising prices and controlling them.

The worst part is that winter tires are now mandatory, meaning they are no longer a "luxury". Shouldn't the government intervene and do something to prevent retailers and/or distributors from taking us consumers for a ride?

On that note, drive safely this winter!

One Blunder After Another 

posted by Odin on Apr 30, 2009

'bixi' by ApollineR, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License

Just when I thought the city of Montreal couldn't make any more mistakes, I am proven wrong!  Just when our public transit options couldn't get any worse, they actually do!

The Bixi public bicycle rental system is due for launch next month.  The idea is simple; you pay an annual fee in order to access a network of public bicycles, parked at given stations.  Various European cities, such as Paris, Munich and Barcelona, have had similar systems for a few years now.

The concept is great.  Lord knows that during the year I've spent in Paris, I have used the Vélib system quite often and am now a devoted fan.  What's not to like?  Lots of bikes, lots of stations, incredible city coverage, cheap membership (30€ for the year)…

The Montreal system, on the other hand, seems riddled with problems from the onset.  To start off, the annual membership fee goes for $78.  This is no astronomical amount, but to keep things in perspective, you can buy a used bike for around $100.  Also, how can the system cost way less in Paris, a much more expensive city?

Second, the distribution of the Bixi stations leaves much to be desired.  A quick look at the map on the official website shows a massive network of stations scattered around downtown and the Plateau area.  This raises two issues.  First, do you really need THIS many stations next to each other?  Seriously, some stations are actually only one block apart!  Second, what about the rest of the city?  I would have decreased the density a bit to provide some stations in surrounding areas such as Westmount, CDN, NDG, which seem to have been completely neglected.

Finally, we live in a cold city, where you can really only bike for a few months a year.  I'm just not too sure it's wise to invest time, effort and money for an activity that will only benefit certain people during a short time window.  There are supposedly 300 Bixi stations to start off.  What exactly did we lose to provide for all of this space?  Is it parking spaces?  I sure hope not!

I am not a fan of cars, and would love to see fewer cars on our island.  But, unfortunately, cars are everywhere and are here to stay for now.  With all of the parking lots transformed into condo projects and the hike in parking meter rates, it has become very hard to find parking anywhere in our busy districts.  Does it really make sense to take up even more spaces for Bixi stations?  It just seems like we're benefiting the minority bikers at the expense of the majority car drivers, which by the way, need those parking spots ALL year long!

Once again, it seems our officials want to do well and head in the right direction.  It just seems they fall short on almost every occasion.

Airport Rail Shuttle? Really? 

posted by Odin on Apr 24, 2009

'VIA Train 60 entraining' by Bobolink, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License

So I read an article a few weeks ago by Andy Riga from the Gazette about the proposed train shuttle between Trudeau airport and downtown, and I thought to myself "what a waste!"

I have always thought that Montreal lacked a lot when it came to public transportation, whether it was to the airport or elsewhere in general.  And it definitely sounds like a good idea to add a fast way go get to the airport from downtown (something that most large cities of importance, especially in Europe, have always had).

BUT, at what cost?  And to serve whose interests?  Expected to cost $800 million, one wonders whether it's worth spending that much of our money on something that's only meant to serve commercial interests rather than your average Montrealer.

For let us not kid ourselves; the winners here are not the citizens of Montreal, who will undoubtedly pay this costly bill, but rather the conglomeration of corporations, hotels and businesses scattered around our commercial hub located around Central Station.

Businessmen and some tourists may find the shuttle a cheaper and faster alternative to getting to their office or hotel downtown.  However, as a Montrealer, this new shuttle doesn't really help me out that much, unless I lived close to downtown or a metro station that is within reach from Central Station.

The question is; how am I supposed to take advantage of this new line when the rest of the island has such little metro/train coverage?  Suppose I just got back from a trip, and I took the new line downtown; am I supposed to take an interminable metro/bus connection with my luggage to get home?

If you really think about it, it is only a small area lying in the middle of the island that can really benefit from this shuttle.  Everybody else will still have to take a taxi or have someone drive them, since from Central Station you can only go so far by metro.

In Paris, for example, I can understand the need and benefit from a direct train ride from the airport to the middle of the city (which exists, by the way).  From Châtelet-Les Halles, where the shuttle drops you, you can pretty much get anywhere by metro and/or RER (a crossover train-metro system that covers both the city and its suburbs).

We live in a relatively small city of only 2 million people.  We really do not need to go all out and spend like crazy just to join the ranks of cities with 10+ million citizens.  I say, increase our on-island coverage first and fix most of its current problems, then maybe we'll talk about this project.

To summarize, I am not against such a shuttle service; I'm just not sure if taxpayers should pay for it, since it will be mostly serve corporate and commercial interests.  Why don’t THEY get slammed with the bill?

Traveling from Montreal … what a Pity! 

posted by Odin on Apr 15, 2009

'Air Canada Airbus A330-343' by abdallahh, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License

Recently, I read somewhere that Porter airlines is doubling their flights between Trudeau airport and Toronto City Centre.  Big deal!  I'd be more interested if they halved their prices maybe, not doubled their flights.

You know, it's hard enough living in Montreal with the kind of winters we get, what's worse is that you can’t get anywhere decent without spending an arm and a leg.

So I went on Porter's website, to check out what a weekend in Toronto would cost me, and found out that the cheapest return-ticket I could get went for $296.  I picked a ticket two months down the line, leaving Friday evening and returning Sunday evening.

Now that's just nuts if you ask me!  300 bucks to go to a next-door boring city like Toronto (no offense).  I go to New York once or twice a year, and I always pay around $400.  A couple of months ago, I bought a return ticket from Montreal to Nashville, Tennessee for $750, and I booked way ahead of time.

These prices really don't make any sense.  How is it that in Europe, you can find amazing deals to go to amazing cities, while we can't even go to Toronto for less than $300?  Of course, you can go by train for around $155 (for the same weekend in June), but do I really want to spend five hours (times two) in a train just to spend a weekend in Toronto?

Since I've been living in Paris, I've traveled around a few times for great prices.  Lately, I took the train to Amsterdam for 50€ (about $75).  $75 won't take you anywhere from Montreal!  To make things better (or worse for Montreal), the train system is so much faster here in France.  Paris-Amsterdam takes just over three hours for a 500km trip, as opposed to five hours for Montreal-Toronto (also a 500km trip, 540km to be exact).  Today I can buy a Paris-London return ticket for 77€ (about $115) for that same weekend in June.

And trust me; these prices do not even begin to scratch the surface of the kinds of deals you can find in Europe.  I haven't even addressed the budget airlines, since it seems that's a concept that doesn't exist for us Montrealers, so there isn't even a basis for comparison.  EasyJet and Ryanair, the two biggest European low-cost airlines, offer ridiculous flight deals every now and then.  Also, Expedia.fr and other similar vacation brokers offer flight/train-hotel combos that make Expedia.ca look like a rip-off.

Typically from Montreal, we head off to Mexico or the Caribbean to help with our winter blues.  Generally speaking, you won't find any packages under $1000 for a week in a four-star hotel or better.  From Paris, on the other hand, not only do you have great choice for a sun-filled destination (Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, Turkey, ...), but you can find all-inclusive deals starting at 500€ ($750) or lower for four-star hotels.

My point is not to say that Europe is better than Canada.  Even the States have more reasonable and affordable travel options than we do.  I just want to know why there isn't more competition and choice for us.  Is it that there isn't a big enough market in Canada?  Maybe the demand is too small to take advantage of serious economies of scale?  Do the big corporations have some sort of monopoly on prices?

I don't know, but right now I'm feeling very jealous of Europeans, and I'm definitely going to miss traveling around when I return to Montreal.