TorontoRealtyBlog

Do you remember the National Enquirer?

I don’t know if this still exists, but I recall this from my childhood in the 1980’s.

This was a print media publication that offered false headlines (or the only truthful headlines if you’re one of “those” people…), such as Elvis Presley being spotted walking with BigFoot, or space aliens invading Time Square.

But I never saw more than the front cover because any time I asked my mom or dad, “Can we buy that?” they would laugh and shake their heads.

I mean, how could they like their child read something like this:

There was more than just the National Enquirer, if I recall.  I think “Star” or “The Star” was a similar rag, not to be confused with “The Toronto Star,” which is, incredibly, less of a rag.

I believe “Weekly World News” was another, and they continuously ran features on bat child who kept escaping and being re-caught.

When I was about 12-years-old and in the phase were my friends and I would go to corner stores ourselves, with our own money, I finally bought a copy of The National Enquirer.  We took it home, went down to the basement, and opened it up expecting to find some of the worlds’ best kept secrets.

But even at 12-years-old, I knew after about one or two pages that the entire publication was nonsense.

I showed it to my mother and she laughed.

“Where did you get this?” she said with a smile.  “What in the world would possess you to want this?”

I told her that the headlines on the front cover were so incredible that I wanted to learn about the fake moon landing, and the woman that gave birth to fourteen children at once, and that the Bible was actually written as a college prank in 1955.

“The headlines are fake,” my mother told me.  “People read this knowing it’s fake.  It’s for entertainment,” she said.

Well, I guess that made sense!

“News” in 2023 has never been more polarizing and that too makes sense, given all the outlets, publications, and mediums.  A century ago, we had the newspaper and maybe the radio.  A half-century ago, we relied on many of the same newspapers and then the nightly news from one local station and one national station.  Today, I would wager that more people get their news from social media than from print newspapers and television news stations combined.

How has that changed us as a society?

I wonder…

A couple of months ago, I dropped the hammer on BlogTo for their incredibly misleading headlines, which I suggested were strategic in nature as they try to win over the coveted Generation-Z demographic, specifically those who are disenfranchised with life, Toronto, and everything in between.

But the headlines have gotten worse since then, and they’ve culminated with what can only be (and I shudder to use Donald Trump’s catchphrase here, but it fits…) described as “Fake News.”

I hate that term because Donald Trump used it to win over his wilfully ignorant followers who would believe that the earth isn’t round if Donald said, “That’s coming from the fake news media…”

But what’s our alternative phrase?

“Fake News” to Donald Trump is news he doesn’t like.  It’s often factual, scientific, or common knowledge.

So what is fake news then?

This:

This is ridiculous.

“Nobody” would be zero people, and that’s mathematically incorrect.

There were 2,160 Condo sales in Toronto in the month of April.

But nobody “wants” to buy Toronto condos would mean that even outside of these 2,160 people who did buy, there isn’t a single person in the city that “would like” to purchase.

As for the Market “tanking,” the average 416 condo price was up 2.6% last month, so I’m not sure where this is coming from.

Oh, wait, maybe I do know where it’s coming from.

Guess where?

Nowhere.

This is the very definition of “fake news” and it’s merely clickbait.  Yes, clickbait that caught me, and I’m writing about it on my blog so BlogTO is only going to get more attention as a result.

But that’s not the point today.

We know that BlogTo caters to broke 20-somethings that hate everything, and that isn’t going to change.

What I want to know is this:

What are the thoughts and opinions of Torontonians in response to this article?

There were over 600 comments on the BlogTo article on Friday afternoon, and my team and I, plus a few other agents who were also puzzled by the story, sat down and read over the comments from Toronto readers.

The results were astounding.

First of all, it seemed like every real estate agent in the city posted a comment saying, “This is B.S.”

But more importantly, there are so many comments from Torontonians who believe the contents of the article and who have very wild views about economics, the free market, the role of government, real estate in our city, or what might constitute “common sense.”

Here are a few of those comments…

Ah, yes, the bubble!

And “they.”

Who are they, exactly?

You mean “they” as in the buyers and sellers in a free market that define “market price?”

So when a buyer and seller agree on a price of, say, $615,000 for a condominium offered for sale in a free market, the condominium is “not worth as much as they say,” where they are comprised of the buyer who bought, the seller who sold, and the appraiser who appraised?

So who, then, knows the true “worth?”

Lemme guess……….you?

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Here’s a believer.

And this is the problem with the headline, the story, or anything that BlogTo writes about real estate.

I would also question, “How far do you want ‘prices to fall’ and why?”

This individual might only be able to afford a home of his or her choosing if prices fell, say, 70%.  But would that be good for the market?  The economy?  The city?

People aren’t thinking clearly…

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Another believer.

Why do you want the market to crash?

Because then you can afford to buy?

But if the market crashed, the economy would crash, and you’d be out of work, and wouldn’t be able to buy.

Is it possible you’re just angry?

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Jacobs Steakhouse should be selling McDonalds-style hamburgers.

Lexus should focus their efforts on building mopeds and small smart-cars.

Private-sector condominium developers should not be building small studio units because they should start building “full family rental apartments.”

This makes zero sense.

A condo builder builds condos.

“Family rental apartments” is a different product entirely.

Not only that, there’s a certain undertone of affordability with respect to the “family rental apartments,” or maybe I’m just reading into this?  But if a developer built a 1,600 square foot, 3-bedroom, 3-bathroom unit that would be suitable for “families,” this unit would be offered at market rent, which would be $5,000+ in the central core.

Shall I go on and assume the undertone of affordability in this comment further suggests that private-sector condominium developers, in a free market, should be constructing artificially low-priced, affordable apartments?

These sentiments are very common in our city and they’re borne of a lack of understanding of both the difference between the public and private sectors as well as a lack of understanding of the basics of supply and demand.

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“Wants” versus “Needs” is a very important concept that is taught on the first day of Grade 12 economics, or at least it was when I took the course in 1997…

Nobody “wants” to live in a tiny, expensive box.

People “want” to live in a house.

People “want” the house to be affordable.

But I “want” a Ferrari to drive to work!

I “want” to have my 22-year-old body back!

I just “want” to play; I wanna bang on the drum all day…

There’s no way for everybody in society to get what they “want” in all respects, the least of which is housing.  People “wanting” a house and “wanting” it to be affordable reeks of a 6-year-old “wanting” a hundred-bajllion toys for Christmas!

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I don’t understand this one.

It’s like this: you go to a restaurant, order a steak, then eat it.  When the bill arrives after the meal, you say, “I don’t want to pay $50 for this steak!”

This makes no sense to me.

Condos have condo fees.  It’s a fact.

But it’s not for nothing.  Condo Fees Pay for common elements in the building, like the electricity and gas to keep lights on in hallways, or elevators running, or the garage door opening.  Condo fees pay for the labour for concierges, property managers, cleaners, and other employees.  Condo fees pay repairs and renovations in the building.

So how can we not pay condo fees?

I suppose we shouldn’t pay the employees, and we should steal gas and electricity from Toronto Hydro and Enbridge?

Sure, but then it wouldn’t be long before BlogTO has an article about the condo and the residents, like sushi.blonde, that are requiring slave labour at a downtown condo…

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Well, let’s see, maybe because we’re in a housing crisis?

The solution to a housing crisis is not to build less housing.

This would be like if we had a famine and we decided to stop growing fruits and vegetables, raising livestock, and we torched all the wheat fields so we could never bake bread again.

The hashtag is a nice touch, but I don’t know that this will catch on.

Again, I’m thinking that maybe, just maybe, this is a suggestion that we #EndCondoConstructionNow, and instead, #StartBuildingDetachedHousesThatAreFree

–

Just so you know that it’s not one crazy person suggesting we “stop building condos” in the midst of a housing crisis, but rather this was a theme in the comments section…

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4 x 4 = 16

There are no 16 square foot condos in the city of Toronto.

Even the “400 square foot condos” mentioned in other comments on this story are twenty-five times as large as a 4 x 4 jail cell.

Also, a standard jail cell is 6 x 8, which is 48 square feet, or three times as large as the fictitious condos you are referencing…

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The average condo price in the 416 in April of 2018 was $590,275.

The average condo price in April of 2023 was $751,916.

What, exactly did you see coming?

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A command economy, eh?

You mean like……….North Korea?

A centralized government that owns all businesses and means of production.

Yes.  Yes.  That is exactly what we need here.

Thankfully, the younger generation is coming to our rescue…

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A scam, how?

“Scam” is a synonym for “fraud.”  These are products selling in a free market.

And who has been burned?

How?  In what way?

When?

Yeesh.  This is 2023.  People just say things and believe them, but even worse is that other people believe them…

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Let’s.

As in……….us?  We?

Who is “we?”

Is it God?  Is it the government?  Is it the collective will of society?

Too many people out there refer to “we” and “should” as though, “We should be lowering the cost of real estate in Toronto,” when the cost is determined by the forces of supply and demand in a free market.

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Again, the “let’s” in let’s lower rental prices is another theme in the comments…

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This one is exceptional.

The 2000’s era.  Alright.

Let’s split the difference and look at the average price in the GTA in 2005.

That’s $335,907.

What was the average sale price in the GTA in 2022?

$1,189,732.

We would have to see a 71.2% decline in the average home price (from 2022) to get “back to 2000’s era prices.”

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Source, please.

A “shoebox” in Toronto is $500,000.

Where can you purchase two $250,000 condos or three $166,667 condos, and Luxury at that, in a tropical paradise?

Also, I hate moths.  They eat clothes.

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Folks, we could do this all day.

In fact, I had another dozen of these comments queued up but we’re getting bit long in the tooth here.

The odd reader might find my responses to the thoughts and opinions of these Torontonians to be distasteful, but don’t tell me they’re out of line or in any way incorrect.

People out there just don’t understand the economy, the role of government, and above all, the difference between needs and wants, or perhaps they just don’t want to understand.

But where does that leave us?

I suppose it leaves us in a city where nobody is happy and there are problems everywhere, since that’s, sadly, kind of how I see the city today.

But I truly believe that if everybody in this city were taught even a crash course on macroeconomics, the role of government, the basics of personal finance, and the cost of construction in our city, then we wouldn’t see comments like those posted above.

Or, we would, because many people would still choose to live in a fantasy.

Which is worse though, honestly?

The post Monday Morning Quarterback: The “National Enquirer” Of Real Estate News appeared first on Toronto Realty Blog.