The study mentioned and similar other studies all fail in this respect: They fail to investigate what methods are used to effect a sale. The studies only look to the results of a sale. Everyone knows that politicians use "sex offenders" to advance themselves politically, newspapers use "sex Offender" stories to increase sales as do iPhone applications which provide limited and often incorrect information about "sex offenders' in the community. No study has investigated the pressures the presence of "sex offenders" in proximity to a home for sale, place on those who are effecting the sale and the homeowner too. Many of these pressures are simply unrealistic, false or in the minds of those participating in the sale. Further research is needed into this essential area before drawing any conclusions. Are risks real or perceived?7-19-2010 Virginia:
UPDATE: Why do sellers tend to lower their prices? No research into why. Also, 13 days on the market longer than other properties, 13 days is insignificant in real estate sales and the study blows this out of proportion. The value of the property is set by the assessor's office which makes no distinctions as to whether a sex offender lives close to the property. Estimating value is a perceived problem with no real foundation.
"From the Study" p-9: "While sellers tend to sell their properties at substantially lower values when a registered sex offender lives nearby, they may not be lowering their sales price enough. Sellers and their agents may have difficulty estimating a property’s expected value if a sex offender is near. That is, a reduced offer price may not attract enough potential buyers, resulting in a longer marketing duration of the home. Table 4 shows that homes located near (within .1 mile of) a registered sex offender spend abut 10% more time on the market. This works out to be about 13 days longer on the market than other similar properties, which are also competitively priced. In relative terms, this is roughly equivalent to selling your home in the “off” season of fall or winter (as compared to the summer or spring)."
A registered sex offender living nearby can make a home harder to sell and lower its value, according to a study by three Virginia professors.
The study found that the presence of a nearby offender reduced a home's value by about 9 percent and such houses took up to 10 percent longer to sell than homes with no registered sex offenders living close by.
"We find that sexual offenders have robust and economically large effects on nearby real estate," Longwood University professors Raymond Brastow, Bennie Waller and Scott Wentland wrote in the paper, which looked at data from central Virginia.
Realtors say their clients do research whether sex offenders live in areas where they are considering buying homes, and that information can hurt a neighborhood's desirability. "There are purchasers for whom, absolutely, especially if they have minor children, it is important to them," said Claire Forcier-Rowe, managing broker of Coldwell Banker Elite in Fredericksburg.
Forcier-Rowe said real estate professionals will tell homebuyers where they can find information about sex offenders, but it's "up to the purchaser to do their due diligence" with the research. John Thompson of Chantilly-based Samson Realty said some of his clients look up information about sex offenders in neighborhoods they're interested in, but he has "never had anyone say they're not going to buy as a result."
Brastow, one of the paper's authors, told The Washington Examiner that it made sense that the presence of sex offenders would affect home purchases because any "stigma or risk" associated with a home will affect its value.
But the magnitude of the sex offenders' influence surprised him, Brastow said. The study found that sex offenders living up to a mile away could still influence property values.
"Central Virginia residents assign a large risk to living near a convicted sex offender," the professors wrote, and homeowners value avoiding that risk more than they value a pool, fireplace, walk-in closet or additional bathroom. It's a good idea for potential buyers to investigate all components of a neighborhood's safety," said Walter Molony, spokesman for the National Association of Realtors.
Learning whether registered sex offenders are in the area is "something people should do when they're thinking about buying a home," Molony said. ..Source.. Emily Babay
1 comment:
This should motivate some people -- those who are trying to sell homes -- to demand that the online sex offender registries be eliminated. They are the cause of the problem.
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