Sex offenders as neighbors a realty factor

A close review of the Virginia Study reveals it is not the presence of the former offender that causes home values to be reduced, it is the Realtors in the way they value homes w/former offender nearby. Assessor's value is never changed. It appears Realtor's have found a way -using fear like politicians do- to get sellers to lower the selling price of homes; such is actually revealed in the study in question. Also, notice in the article below, the Realtor uses a iPhone App to show sellers and maybe buyers as well, where former offenders live in proximity to the home for sale; they are causing the fear problem. The studies show the result of the actions of the realtor actions.

8-11-2010 Virginia:

Richmond, Va. -- What's more important than a brick exterior, a walk-in closet or a fireplace if you're in the market to buy a house in rural Virginia?

The assurance that the house is not located close to a registered sex offender, according to a study by three Longwood University professors.

Being located within one-tenth of a mile of a sex offender reduces a home's value by nearly 9 percent, according to the study's findings. And the same house takes as much as 10 percent longer to sell.

"We expected that homes would be negatively impacted, but the magnitude was striking," said Scott Wentland, visiting assistant professor of economics at Longwood.

Wentland was joined in the study by Ray Brastow, associate professor of economics, and Bennie D. Waller, chairman of the department of accounting, economics, finance and real estate.

They studied rural areas based on information from the Multiple Listing Service in Lynchburg for their report on the effects of the federal Sexual Offender Act, known as Megan's Law.

Since 1994, people convicted of sex crimes have been required to notify local law enforcement about their residence and any change of address. That information has become publicly available, allowing anyone to see whether an offender lives nearby.

Lacy Williams, a Realtor with Joyner Fine Properties in Richmond, said she has an application on her smartphone that allows her to show the list of offenders to prospective clients.

"There are sex offenders almost everywhere," she said. "I have been in situations where young, first-time buyers like a house and parents who live elsewhere look at the list and tell the children not to buy the house."

The study shows that people will pay an average $14,826 more for a house if it's not located near a registered sex offender.

And they will sacrifice as much as 295 square feet in a house if they can be assured of not living near a registered offender.

The study looked at distances from 0.1 mile to 1 mile. A house located 1 mile from an offender saw a 4.5 percent drop in price compared with comparable houses.

Similar studies in the Charlotte, N.C., and Tampa, Fla., areas have shown less dramatic results -- about half as many as the Longwood report. However, those studies involved metropolitan areas, not rural.

The concept of a neighborhood in rural areas may encompass larger areas than in more densely populated areas, explaining the different results, Brastow said.

Brastow said the findings are important for sellers and buyers trying to determine fair market values. ..Source.. Carol Hazard | TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER

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CT- Sex offender's Southbury neighbors want assessments reduced

This article claims that RSOs in close proximity cause property values to be reduced. First, the article omits that effective 2007 there is a new standard for assessing property values that was used by Total Valuation Services when they did their assessments. Second, the study mentioned is flawed in that researchers failed to consider ALL the normal things that cause property values to decrease and attributed the decrease to RSOs who lived nearby.
2-21-2008 Connecticut:

SOUTHBURY -- Mark Lynch's new neighbor spent nearly 25 years in prison for rape. His family's safety notwithstanding, he worries about another concern: whether anyone will buy his raised ranch when the time comes to sell.

Lynch and 24 other homeowners in the Fox Run Drive area believe their property values dropped last fall when David Pollitt moved to his sister's home in their neighborhood.

They tried but can't force Pollitt out, so they've asked the town to reduce their property tax assessments by as much as 17 percent. They argue the presence of a registered sex offender has negatively impacted the sale price of their homes, especially because anyone can go online and find out that he lives there.

Their request for a property tax reduction may be the first of its kind in Connecticut, said Carolyn Nadeau, president of the Connecticut Association of Assessing Officers and tax assessor for Bethlehem and Watertown.

"I've never had an instance like this," she said. "Any number of times there are distractions that people feel negatively impact their property values, such as unsightly blight, but we haven't seen this."

Total Valuation Services, the company that put new values on all properties in Southbury last fall, rejected the residents' plea for help on a technicality this month. The new home values went into effect with the Oct. 1, 2007, grand list. Pollitt didn't move to Southbury until Oct. 12.

"This was not something they could take into consideration," said Michael Moriarty, Southbury's assessor. "We are charged under Connecticut law to value as of Oct. 1. We have to stop as of that point in time. We believe we are complying with that law."

Undeterred, the homeowners are taking their case to the Board of Assessment Appeals, which meets in March to hear arguments from taxpayers who think their real estate or motor vehicle assessments are too high. Lynch, who lives next door to Pollitt's sister, believes the residents are owed a property tax break.

"If I wanted to sell my house tomorrow morning, how many people would want to buy it?" said Lynch, whose seven-room raised ranch on nearly 1 acre is assessed at $243,080.

The residents, who live on Fox Run Drive, Wolf Pit Drive and Forest Park Road, are relying on a 2000 study by researchers at Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio, which studied approximately 3,200 home transactions in Montgomery County, Ohio. They found that, on average, houses located within one-tenth of a mile of a registered sex offender sold for 17.4 percent less than similar houses located farther away. ..more.. by CHRIS GARDNER REPUBLICAN-AMERICAN

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