Get realistic on local real estate
To the editor:
Many recent articles in the Review-Journal on the housing market scream out that housing inventories are rising, sales are falling and the foreclosure rate is the highest of any state. They also cite that many real estate sales people are leaving the business because of lackluster sales. Well, it serves the industry right. They brought it on themselves.
A recent article from an economist said that real estate agents were selling homes that just a few years ago would have been lucky to fetch $175,000, but now the sellers were asking $330,500. Some of those homes had ratty carpets, poorly laid out interiors and needed to be painted and fixed up — but still the sellers were asking those inflated prices. I believe that if these builders and real estate agents sold the houses for their actual real value — most under the $200,000 mark — it would bring the builder and agent more profits than pushing the home price to unrealistic extremes.
Like many other people, I would have bought a house a few years ago if the sellers and real estate agents lived in reality and priced accordingly. When they try to sell a home that should be in the $150,000 to $175,000 range for an inflated sales price of $330,000, they deserve to have that house rot on its foundation unless, like P.T. Barnum, they get that sucker on the hook.
So, builders, contractors, real estate agents and home owners: If you want to sell this bloated housing inventory, redo the bottom line and make a few thousand dollars profit rather than tens of thousands on one sale.
Brad evans
LAS VEGAS
Crime pays?
To the editor:
There used to be sayings that crime doesn’t pay, and no one has ever committed the perfect crime. You can throw those sayings out the window.
Former Clark County Commissioner Erin Kenny has proved them wrong. The snitch is making more money than 90 percent of the people in Nevada — she makes more than most politicians (Friday Review-Journal). She walks into court dressed like Paris Hilton, and is as arrogant as a queen. She probably has money stashed in places that even she has forgotten about.
She has made a laughingstock of the justice system, and will probably dodge the IRS, also.
Sometimes crime does pay — just ask Erin Kenny.
T. Ambelang
LAS VEGAS
Memory loss
To the editor:
If former Clark County Commissioner Erin Kenny indeed suffers from vertigo and has “memory loss” (Saturday Review-Journal), what kind of advice is she capable of offering to Rhodes Homes that is worth $16,800 a month? Voila! That’s it — they are paying her to “keep forgetting.”
DANIEL S. MAXIME
LAS VEGAS
Population control
To the editor:
The involvement of males in reproductive health will give women more of a fighting chance for maternal survival and well-being. The United Nations has designated this July 11 World Population Day, and the theme is “Men as Partners in Maternal Health.”
In most societies, men exercise overwhelming authority as fathers, husbands, community leaders, political leaders and religious leaders. These roles of authority give men a voice on issues ranging from personal decisions regarding the size of families to the policy and program decisions at all levels of government.
World Population Day is a call to action for men worldwide to use their power in making a positive change to the present condition of maternal health.
Men must be actively engaged in making personal and political commitment for positive change to achieve global goals for maternal health, gender equality and combating HIV/AIDS.
Lawrence Smith
WASHINGTON, D.C.
THE WRITER IS PRESIDENT OF THE POPULATION INSTITUTE.
Dark soul
To the editor:
Just when I thought we had plumbed the depths of George W. Bush’s dark eternal soul, I discover it was just a false bottom, and there is in fact no limit to his abuse of executive power.
When Mr. Bush overruled a federal appeals court and commuted Lewis “Scooter” Libby’s 30-month prison term, he confirmed the old adage that power corrupts, and absolute power is absolutely the most fun you can have.
As most of us celebrated the anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, Mr. Bush commemorated another one of our cherished national documents, the Constitution, by feeding it through one of the Oval Office shredders.
Ty Weller
LAS VEGAS
Pay raise
To the editor:
It would seem that those boobs in our nation’s capital can’t get anything done because they are too busy acting like little children playing in the sand box and fighting over who owns the little pail and the little shovel.
Oh, excuse me: They did find time to pass themselves another undeserved pay raise to the tune of $4,400 per member, per year. That brings them up to $170,000 annually.
Do term limits begin to sound better and better?
Aaron Cantor
LAS VEGAS
