The lesson on this example, and in life in general, is that many things are not as they appear. Take median price as an example – once you give it some thought, you realize what a poor stand alone statistic it is to gauge home prices, and yet 99% of the people out there use it religiously. Someone looking at the comps in this neighborhood in San Marcos will see two sales at 710 and feel pretty good about spending 650 for the larger, more desirable ones currently listed. And they will never see the likely underlying fraud that took place, assuming we are right. When the monthly stats come out for 92078, they will use 710 as the purchase price and that will affect that overall median for the zip code, furthering the deception.
