Foreclosure racket
Something is wrong with the entire real estate system in Nova Scotia ("Canada's foreclosure playground," cover story by The King's Investigative Workshop, July 4). My father owned a lakefront lot in HRM for 40 years. When he passed his property was supposed to migrate to my mother, but the lot didn't. Not realizing this, mom deeded the lot to me the day before she died. When I tried to get information on it, I was told the land had never been granted, and was owned by the department of natural resources.
I had 40 years of tax receipts and permit applications, but it took DNR two years to admit their mistake. When they changed the title, they put it back in the name of my father's estate. My deed was from mom to me, so I couldn't register it. Tax arrears had accumulated. The property was sold at a tax sale. The arrears were approximately $1,500. The province got $10,000 from the tax sale. The buyer got over $30,000 when he resold it. I got nothing.
—Deena Netzke on Facebook
Where is The Coast getting the $5,495 foreclosure sale price from? I know the current owner of the Chester home, and that is not what they paid for it.
—Eva Romita on Facebook
That isn't what it went for—more like $500,000.
—Teresa Eisenhauer on Facebook
I would work myself to death in that big house...couldn't keep myself in brooms. —Rosemary Boutilier Wile on Facebook
How do you find out about those deals? I want one!
—Linda Geffroy on Facebook
Editor's note: Eight King's College journalism students in the King's Investigative Workshop went through a major research and data-analysis effort to figure out how Nova Scotia's foreclosure system works. (For details on what they did, head online to bit.ly/KIWrealestate.) About that seemingly impossible sale we highlighted on the cover, thanks to the investigative journalism team pointing the way you can easily verify it yourself, just like in the GIF below. Head to ViewPoint.ca and search for 98 Pig Loop Road in Chester (you may have to sign up for a free account). After you click into the listing, the History tab reveals various transactions related to the house, like the land registration on September 28, 2017 at a purchase price of $5,495, and its 2017 assessment of $1,182,000, or "nearly $1.2 million" as the cover says. You'll also see it sold last February for $650,000. Happy sleuthing.
Paper and plastic
Due to the emphasis of trying to eliminate plastic in all forms, I am writing to one newspaper to ponder a question about another.Why is my morning Chronicle-Herald delivered in a plastic bag tied up with an elastic? I receive the paper six days a week, that is six unnecessary bags. Multiply this by 52 weeks and you get a lot of plastic bags delivered!
It is not that long ago that my morning paper was delivered to my mailbox. Why was this policy changed?
I live on the peninsula and have home mail delivery. I can understand the Herald using bags in the rural areas, or where there are community mailboxes, but certainly not in the city.
We are making such a push to ban one-use plastic bags—so what about these? Please, Chronicle-Herald, return to the no-plastic-bag policy, especially in the city. These bags are completely unnecessary.
—D.A. Burns, Halifax
