Robert Durst admits writing note giving location of body | Canada News Media
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Robert Durst admits writing note giving location of body

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Durst, 76, is expected to stand trial on a murder charge next month for allegedly shooting Susan Berman in the head at her Beverly Hills home on December 23, 2000. He has pleaded not guilty.
She was scheduled to speak hours later with police about the 1982 disappearance of Durst’s first wife. Berman’s body was found the next day.
In addition to confirming that Durst wrote the note, his attorneys continue to maintain that he is innocent.
In 2018, a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge ruled admissible statements Berman made about allegedly helping Durst build an alibi for the death of his wife, Kathleen McCormack Durst, according to prosecutors.
Durst has long said he had nothing to do with his wife’s disappearance. She was legally declared dead in 2017. Her body has not been found and no one has been charged in that case.
In a court filing in Los Angeles last week, lawyers for the real estate magnate acknowledged that Durst penned an anonymous note leading police to Berman’s home, where his longtime friend’s body was found.
“I can confirm the stipulations in the filing are true,” said Durst’s attorney Dick DeGuerin, referring to the joint filing by prosecutors and defense lawyers of stipulations agreed to by both sides before trial.
“This does not change the fact that Bob Durst did not kill Susan Berman and he does not know who did.”
In the filing, made on Christmas Eve and first reported by The New York Times, Durst’s attorneys said their client authored a cryptic note with Berman’s address and the word “cadaver” — which led police to her body.

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In the 2015 HBO documentary “The Jinx,” the onetime tycoon said the letter could only have been sent by Berman’s killer.
Defense lawyers have previously denied Durst wrote the note, and they had tried to exclude from trial handwriting evidence about it.
Berman’s death is not the first in which Durst has faced trial. In 2003, Durst told police he killed and dismembered a neighbor in Galveston, Texas, two years earlier. He said he shot the man and cut him up in a panic. Prosecutors said he wanted to steal the man’s identity and escape the investigation of his wife’s disappearance.
Durst testified the killing was in self-defense, that he panicked and decided to cut up Morris Black’s body and throw away the pieces. He was acquitted.
Though acquitted of murder, Durst later served nine months in prison on felony weapons charges stemming from the Texas case.
In 2015, Durst was accused of killing Berman, a crime writer who had been his close friend. When authorities arrested Durst in a New Orleans hotel, he had a .38-caliber revolver. He later pleaded guilty to one charge of being a felon in possession of a firearm.
Prosecutors in 2015 said he’d been preparing for a life on the lam.
At the time, DeGuerin told the Los Angeles Times he believed the arrest was deliberately timed to the HBO documentary’s finale.
“Do I think this is a coincidence? Hell, no,” he said. “There has been rumor, innuendo and speculation for a number of years, and now we’re going to get our day in court on this.”
At the end of “The Jinx,” Durst is overheard on a microphone he apparently did not realize was on. “What the hell did I do?” he says. “Killed them all, of course.”
If convicted in Berman’s death, he could be sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole, authorities said.
Durst amassed his fortune from his family’s real estate business, the Durst Organization, which owns a number of high-profile buildings in Manhattan.
McCormack, his first wife, was on her way to medical school in New York when she vanished in 1982.

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Greater Toronto home sales jump in October after Bank of Canada rate cuts: board

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TORONTO – The Toronto Regional Real Estate Board says home sales in October surged as buyers continued moving off the sidelines amid lower interest rates.

The board said 6,658 homes changed hands last month in the Greater Toronto Area, up 44.4 per cent compared with 4,611 in the same month last year. Sales were up 14 per cent from September on a seasonally adjusted basis.

The average selling price was up 1.1 per cent compared with a year earlier at $1,135,215. The composite benchmark price, meant to represent the typical home, was down 3.3 per cent year-over-year.

“While we are still early in the Bank of Canada’s rate cutting cycle, it definitely does appear that an increasing number of buyers moved off the sidelines and back into the marketplace in October,” said TRREB president Jennifer Pearce in a news release.

“The positive affordability picture brought about by lower borrowing costs and relatively flat home prices prompted this improvement in market activity.”

The Bank of Canada has slashed its key interest rate four times since June, including a half-percentage point cut on Oct. 23. The rate now stands at 3.75 per cent, down from the high of five per cent that deterred many would-be buyers from the housing market.

New listings last month totalled 15,328, up 4.3 per cent from a year earlier.

In the City of Toronto, there were 2,509 sales last month, a 37.6 per cent jump from October 2023. Throughout the rest of the GTA, home sales rose 48.9 per cent to 4,149.

The sales uptick is encouraging, said Cameron Forbes, general manager and broker for Re/Max Realtron Realty Inc., who added the figures for October were stronger than he anticipated.

“I thought they’d be up for sure, but not necessarily that much,” said Forbes.

“Obviously, the 50 basis points was certainly a great move in the right direction. I just thought it would take more to get things going.”

He said it shows confidence in the market is returning faster than expected, especially among existing homeowners looking for a new property.

“The average consumer who’s employed and may have been able to get some increases in their wages over the last little bit to make up some ground with inflation, I think they’re confident, so they’re looking in the market.

“The conditions are nice because you’ve got a little more time, you’ve got more choice, you’ve got fewer other buyers to compete against.”

All property types saw more sales in October compared with a year ago throughout the GTA.

Townhouses led the surge with 56.8 per cent more sales, followed by detached homes at 46.6 per cent and semi-detached homes at 44 per cent. There were 33.4 per cent more condos that changed hands year-over-year.

“Market conditions did tighten in October, but there is still a lot of inventory and therefore choice for homebuyers,” said TRREB chief market analyst Jason Mercer.

“This choice will keep home price growth moderate over the next few months. However, as inventory is absorbed and home construction continues to lag population growth, selling price growth will accelerate, likely as we move through the spring of 2025.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 6, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

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Homelessness: Tiny home village to open next week in Halifax suburb

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HALIFAX – A village of tiny homes is set to open next month in a Halifax suburb, the latest project by the provincial government to address homelessness.

Located in Lower Sackville, N.S., the tiny home community will house up to 34 people when the first 26 units open Nov. 4.

Another 35 people are scheduled to move in when construction on another 29 units should be complete in December, under a partnership between the province, the Halifax Regional Municipality, United Way Halifax, The Shaw Group and Dexter Construction.

The province invested $9.4 million to build the village and will contribute $935,000 annually for operating costs.

Residents have been chosen from a list of people experiencing homelessness maintained by the Affordable Housing Association of Nova Scotia.

They will pay rent that is tied to their income for a unit that is fully furnished with a private bathroom, shower and a kitchen equipped with a cooktop, small fridge and microwave.

The Atlantic Community Shelters Society will also provide support to residents, ranging from counselling and mental health supports to employment and educational services.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 24, 2024.

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Here are some facts about British Columbia’s housing market

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Housing affordability is a key issue in the provincial election campaign in British Columbia, particularly in major centres.

Here are some statistics about housing in B.C. from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation’s 2024 Rental Market Report, issued in January, and the B.C. Real Estate Association’s August 2024 report.

Average residential home price in B.C.: $938,500

Average price in greater Vancouver (2024 year to date): $1,304,438

Average price in greater Victoria (2024 year to date): $979,103

Average price in the Okanagan (2024 year to date): $748,015

Average two-bedroom purpose-built rental in Vancouver: $2,181

Average two-bedroom purpose-built rental in Victoria: $1,839

Average two-bedroom purpose-built rental in Canada: $1,359

Rental vacancy rate in Vancouver: 0.9 per cent

How much more do new renters in Vancouver pay compared with renters who have occupied their home for at least a year: 27 per cent

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 17, 2024.

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