Posted on 05/15/2008 5:14:32 PM PDT by Monk Dimittis
The Real Estate Adviser on Bankrate.com has answered an important question from a reader: Does a registered sex offender living in your neighborhood affect your home's value? The unfortunate answer is "yes."
One study found that a sex offender within one-tenth of a mile of your home makes your house sell for about 17% less than comparable homes without a sex offender in the neighborhood. If a sex offender is within two-tenths or three-tenths of a mile from your home, expect a 9% to 10% lower sales price. A separate study found that homes within one-tenth of a mile of a sex offender only sold for 4% less than comparable homes.
Even though there is a range of numbers presented, it's clear that the presence of a registered sex offender in your neighborhood will have an impact on the sale price of your home. It's no wonder. What parent would buy a house in close proximity to a registered sex offender? For most parents, that's too big a risk to take when you know your child will want to play outside during summer.
This is a good time to remind buyers to check registries to see if a sex offender is living in the neighborhood you're considering. If you can't locate a registry, check with the local police station for guidance on sex offender registration. You want to make an informed choice before you buy a home for your family.
Yep, it's a problem!
Curious Are you an "immoral Real Estate Broker" or a "registered sex offender"? *\;-)
But... I do have a vague memory of a story years ago of some folks getting together to buy out a registered sex offender who'd moved in... something like that.
(s) we have a neighbor that is a practicing DEMOCRAT. very creepy. (/s)
potential immoral real estate broker
Have you ever LOOKED at the database? Those guys are everywhere! Hard to imagine getting too far away, even in “good” neighborhoods.
I just pray that the ones near me are the ones who only got busted in college for mooning.
After all, I'm a "potential immoral engineer" -- though I'm clueless about how to take advantage of that. (And doubtful I'd want to if I wasn't. *\:-)
I wonder how much the unsolved murder of a sex offender near my home would affect it’s value. Just kidding, of course, but it is an interesting hypothetical to ponder.
Can you say "joint and several liability", "misfeasance" and "malfeasance"? Sure, I knew you could.
Especially when someone figures out that property taxes that could have been collected are based on the valuations of these now-infringed properties.
Nowadays folks, get it through to your heads, every adult male, certainly every white adult male, is either a registered sex offender, an unregistered sex offender, or a potential sex offender. Thank people like Andrea Dworkin and Catherine McKinnon and the sensationalizing media.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.