The following appeared in a letter sent by a committee of homeowners from the Deerhaven Acres to all homeowners in Deerhaven Acres.

“Seven years ago, homeowners in nearby Brookville community adopted a set of restrictions on how the community’s yards should be landscaped and what colors the exteriors of homes should be painted. Since then, average property values have tripled in Brookville. In order to raise property values in Deerhaven Acres, we should adopt our own set of restrictions on landscaping and house painting.”

In this letter, a committee of homeowners recommends that only adopting the set of restrictions on landscaping and house painting can raise property values in Deerhaven Acres. The author has supported his argument by pointing out that seven years ago, homeowners in nearby Brookville community adopted a set of restrictions on the community’s yards and the colors of the exteriors of homes, which made the average property values, triple in Brookville. However, the rise in the average property values may not be a result of landscaping community’s yards and changing the colors of the exteriors of homes. There are many other critical fallacies in this argument, which the author failed to handle. Without taking into consideration all other factors actually responsible for the property value rise, the argument cannot be concluded.

First of all, the committee has not provided enough data that can justify that the measures taken by Brookville community directly resulted in the property value raise. There is no evidence to prove that landscaped yards and unified exterior colors are the direct cause or the main cause responsible for the rise in property value. It might be just a coincidence that after those restrictions, the average property values in Brookville tripled. There are many other reasons that can influence the rise of the property values. The area might be the central place and hence, more approachable. The area might be greener or closer to the shopping areas, hospitals, schools, or airports etc. All these factors can attract people to the area and they can plan to buy houses in that particular area. This will definitely raise the property value in that area.

Moreover, we cannot compare the two areas. It is not necessary that if the uniform yard and colors contributed to the increase of the property value in Brookville community, then it will bring about similar success in Deerhaven Acres also. The author has not considered the personalities of people living in the two communities, their tastes, living styles, and their economic conditions etc. Hence, it would be wrong to conclude this argument in the absence of such observations.

Furthermore, the author has taken seven year old example of Brookville, which may not be relevant in today’s context. It might be possible that seven years ago, people valued the appearances and the yards quite a lot when assessing a community. However, today, people may pay more attention to the area where the community is located, the nearby circumstances, the inside conditions and facilities in the house etc. People might be more open and liberal and they might not like the unified community yards and colors.

The author should have done a survey to justify the relation between the applied restrictions and average property values in Brookville. He should have analyzed whether the factors affecting home prices in the two areas are the same or not. The author should have discussed the location of Deerhaven Acres, policy of government to develop the area etc. The author should have provided some additional evidence to support his argument.