PROPERTY VALUES NOT GOING TO POT

Grow Ops' Impact No Concern

The booming home marijuana grow operations in Calgary shouldn't diminish
house values, a prominent realtor says. Calgary Real Estate Board president
Marilyn Jones said the swelling number of grow operations affects every
community in the city, so no single neighbourhood is stigmatized and forced
to drop housing prices.

"It may drop your value if the house is right next door to yours or if the
grow operation was in your home," she said. "But other than that, it hasn't
hurt property values."

As revealed in yesterday's Sun, cops seized twice the amount of pot from
city grow operations last year as they did in 2003.

The Southern Alberta Marijuana Investigative Team, a joint forces unit
comprised of the RCMP, Calgary police and the Criminal Intelligence Service
of Alberta, nabbed about $101 million of the illegal weed in 2004,
eclipsing the $53 million it seized the year before.

As police make more pot busts -- many which were purchased through an
elaborate mortgage-fraud scheme -- more homes are up for sale.

"It does make the house harder to sell," admitted Jones.

"Even if the health officials give it a green light, some people will be
nervous about moving in."

Those selling real estate must reveal if the home they're selling ever
housed a grow op, she said.