The following appeared in a letter from a homeowner to a friend.
Of the two leading real estate firms in our townAdams Realty and Fitch RealtyAdams Realty is clearly superior. Adams has 40 real estate agents; in contrast, Fitch has 25, many of whom work only part-time. Moreover, Adams' revenue last year was twice as high as that of Fitch and included home sales that averaged $168,000, compared to Fitch's $144,000. Homes listed with Adams sell faster as well: ten years ago I listed my home with Fitch, and it took more than four months to sell; last year, when I sold another home, I listed it with Adams, and it took only one month. Thus, if you want to sell your home quickly and at a good price, you should use Adams Realty.
Write a response in which you examine the stated and/or unstated assumptions of the argument. Be sure to explain how the argument depends on these assumptions and what the implications are for the argument if the assumptions prove unwarranted.
C1: Of the two leading real estate firms in our town - Adams Realty and Fitch Realty - Adams Realty is clearly superior.
G1: Adams has 40 real estate agents; in contrast, Fitch has 25, many of whom work only part-time.
G2: Moreover, Adams' revenue last year was twice as high as that of Fitch and included home sales that averaged $168,000, compared to Fitch's $144,000.
C2: Homes listed with Adams sell faster as well:
G3ten years ago I listed my home with Fitch, and it took more than four months to sell; last year, when I sold another home, I listed it with Adams, and it took only one mont
C3: Thus, if you want to sell your home quickly and at a good price, you should use Adams Realty.
A1 (G1, C1) more full-time staff would entail better efficiency
A2 (G2, C1) revenue and average prices in the past can be used to predict the success of individual transaction in the future
A3 (G3, C2, C3) the particular case of selling faster can be used to support a general claim (individual cases could be used to make a general claim; things do not change over time)
According to the author of the letter, his friend should try to sell the home through Adams because the company has more full-time agents, sold more homes at higher average prices and had a record of selling homes faster. A number of assumptions had been made in the argument (about the superiority of hiring a company with more full-timers,) and we need to examine them critically to decide if the recommendation is reasonable.
To begin with, it is assumed that a real estate company with more full-time agents would always sell a home faster and better. It is true that with more staff members working full time, Adams will have more human resources available to sell different homes. But it is important to note that they sold more homes as indicated in their greater revenue. Therefore, the human efforts devoted to each home for sale are not necessarily greater in Adams. It is also assumed that full-time agents are always better in selling homes than part-time agents. But it is possible that selling a particular home requires the networking with a particular groups of customers that only part-time agents with more leisure time to spend with other people may have. In cases like this, using Fitch may even be more desirable.
We may then consider the fact that Adams generated twice as much as revenue as Fitch and sold homes at a higher average price. As discussed earlier, it is not reasonable to assume that companies with greater revenue can necessarily sell individual homes more effectively. The greater revenue could be attributed to the greater number of homes Adams was able to sell with more full-time employees. LIkewise, the average price of homes sold by Adams could be higher because Adams was dealing with homes with higher overall market values, not necessarily a result of Adams doing a better selling job.
In the argument about Adams selling homes faster, two assumptions have also been made and need further scrutiny. First, it is assumed that two isolated cases of transactions by Adams and Fitch would necessarily reflect the two companies' overall speed of selling homes and could be used to predict their performance of selling a particular home. Moreover, it is further assumed that the Fitch's deal ten years was comparable to Adams's more recent transaction. How fast a home could be sold may depend on a range of factors such as how attractive the home was, the professionalism of individual real estate agents as well as the overall market conditions. Comparing two transactions that were ten years apart is unlikely to reveal useful information for deciding which company can sell homes faster.
The argument that Adams can sell a home faster for the author's friend is built upon a number of assumptions discussed above. These assumptions may or may not hold true and more information is required to decide if the recommendation is reasonable.
typo (?): A number of assumptions had been made in the argument and we need to examine them critically to **devide** (decide) if the recommendation is reasonable.