Do you consider race when looking for a neighborhood to live in?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's called "white flight," https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_flight

It's not a new thing.

OP here

I'm Canadian and am not familiar with this term. Thanks for the link. This does help partially explain why, for an area that is so diverse (DMV), it seems very segregated from a housing standpoint. The eastern and western parts of MoCo seem like two separate places. I also found this to be ture when we lived in NW DC. I have been told that this wasn't always the case.

You should also look up "white guilt". It will explain many posts here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I looked for an equally diverse community. I would not care that an affluent what ever race moved in. What a strange question.

Racism is strange to you?
Lucky You?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As a white person, I didn't want to live in an overwhelmingly middle and upper income white neighborhood so race and class were an issue. Any time I live in a neighborhood like that, I find myself slowly becoming more fearful of poor and working class people and of African-Americans. When I live in a more mixed neighborhood, it's easier to see people for who they are, not their demographic category. I wanted my kid to grow up in a neighborhood like that, not in a small wealthy white town like I did.

However, the dynamic you describe is pretty typical and it's one reason that African American families have not been able to build up the same amount of wealth as white families. People don't realize that US government policies which rewarded white suburban flight and penalized inner city black neighborhoods have done a lot to shape residential segregation today. That is enhanced by white fears of living in a neighborhood with too many blacks. A good resource on this is American Apartheid by Massey and Denton -- although I'm sure you can find something more recent. It's a bit dated.

Thank You for saying this?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Most people look at school ratings which in most cases corelate to racial makeup of the neighborhood. If your school gets worse your property value will follow.

This.

[Anonymous]

Our neighborhood has almost no diversity- ethnic or economic. It would probably be a good thing if more non-whites moved in; as it is now, minorities don't want to consider our neighborhood out of fear their kid would be the only non-white kid in his class.

That said, I admit that when my daughter and I checked out a park in the next neighborhood over last week, we were literally the only white people there and it made me a little nervous. Nothing happened, of course, and I'm not sure my daughter even noticed, but I did think, "wow, so this is what it's like. This must suck on a daily basis!"

[Anonymous]

Not at all. It truly doesn't factor into our evaluation of a neighborhood or property.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our neighborhood has almost no diversity- ethnic or economic. It would probably be a good thing if more non-whites moved in; as it is now, minorities don't want to consider our neighborhood out of fear their kid would be the only non-white kid in his class.

That said, I admit that when my daughter and I checked out a park in the next neighborhood over last week, we were literally the only white people there and it made me a little nervous. Nothing happened, of course, and I'm not sure my daughter even noticed, but I did think, "wow, so this is what it's like. This must suck on a daily basis!"

This is why I persuaded my husband *not* to buy in an all-white neighborhood in MoCo. We are a well-educated black family (two doctoral degrees) that wants the same things for our children that everyone else does--good schools, green space, welcoming neighbors. We wouldn't want to be scorned or viewed suspiciously in our own neighborhood.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not at all. It truly doesn't factor into our evaluation of a neighborhood or property.

... and then we got kids and faced the reality...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our neighborhood has almost no diversity- ethnic or economic. It would probably be a good thing if more non-whites moved in; as it is now, minorities don't want to consider our neighborhood out of fear their kid would be the only non-white kid in his class.

That said, I admit that when my daughter and I checked out a park in the next neighborhood over last week, we were literally the only white people there and it made me a little nervous. Nothing happened, of course, and I'm not sure my daughter even noticed, but I did think, "wow, so this is what it's like. This must suck on a daily basis!"

This is why I persuaded my husband *not* to buy in an all-white neighborhood in MoCo. We are a well-educated black family (two doctoral degrees) that wants the same things for our children that everyone else does--good schools, green space, welcoming neighbors. We wouldn't want to be scorned or viewed suspiciously in our own neighborhood.

PP here. Reread your post. Sorry for the hasty comment. I think you're saying that being the only one of a particular racial/ethnic must suck because of how conspicuous and self-conscious one feels in this context (not that being in a minority-dominant neighborhood sucks). If this is the correct reading of your post, then yes, I agree with you.

Having been the "only" in many educational and work settings (in addition to being one of few females), I wouldn't say that it outright sucks, but it's definitely not ideal in terms of one's comfort level. You're often peripherally aware of it, even if not always at the forefront of your mind. I didn't want that experience for our kids, if we could help it. So we bought in a more diverse neighborhood.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How do you even find out the racial makeup? When I view houses I see 2 Neighbors. I do check the racial makeup of the elementary school. I've avoided a school area where my minority kid would be only one of two in her class. The area was 90% white.

ask your realtor

[Anonymous]

Lol at all of the people lying through their teeth in this thread. Of course everyone considers race. You don't see bleeding heart liberals moving to the depths of PG county, nor do you see many African Americans moving to Old Town Alexandria. for the Canadian OP: people pay attention to race because they are concerned about property values and crime. Like it or not, certain demographics are more likely to commit violent crimes and property crimes. There is a history in this country of "blockbusting," where realtors would use subterfuge to sell one or a couple houses on a block to African Americans, then would start throwing bricks through people's windows to make them think the neighborhood was going to hell in a hand basket. The realtors would put their business cards and flyers all over the neighborhood and, before you knew it, the white home owners would be selling like hot cakes (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blockbusting).

[Anonymous]

Of course

You consider quality of the neighborhood which is generally related to two factors in this area.

Commuting distance and school quality.

Commuting distance is self explanatory.

School quality is primarily related to SES (self fulfilling prophecy) and since African Americans and Hispanics have lower SES most people when given the choice will pick a neighborhood that has fewer African Americans and Hispanics unless you happen to be one of those races. Even then many high SES AA and hispanics are wary to be in an environment that does not value education and at the very least will most likely send their kids to private schools

[Anonymous]

A couple of observations. As a white guy, I have not looked at any potential area, and thought about the racial make-up as part of my buying decision. School quality, location, ease of commute, and price have been the driving factors. I also do not think any realtor with even an iota of sense would admit to knowing what the racial make-up of any area is, and directing buyers to or from an area, based on that. That is discrimination. Finally, I really couldn't care if my neighbors were white, black, Asian, Jewish, or tutti-frutti colored. I hope that they will try and maximize their investment with sound upkeeping, maintenance, etc., ya know, act like rational and sensible home owners. As for school quality: if the schools suck, real estate prices will follow that. Smart money that can leave, will leave. Tax base shrinks, and, those left behind suffer. Thank you school unions.

[Anonymous]

There's actually interesting research about how even well-educated and middle-class African Americans are much more likely to live in mixed-income communities than their White counterparts.

Part of this is economic, given that a Black man with a college degree is less likely to get a job than a White man with a high school diploma.

Part of it is a long history of Black folks being kept out of White neighborhoods by redlining and discriminatory lending practices (all other things being equal, including job history and income, Black people still get worse home loans than their white counterparts).

...and part of it is what a PP said - that they don't want to be looked upon with suspicion by their own neighbors.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Where is this neighborhood where it's apparently 1968? Jesus.

Eh, immigrant Asians are pretty racist about this stuff. I had a friend who wanted to buy a condo in Shaw, his older Chinese immigrant parents were gifting him the $100K downpayment (he's an only child, a total Chinese "princeling"). Parents refused to give him the money unless he bought in Dupont or Georgetown, citing that they thought "those people" in Shaw would bring down property values.

His parents are stupid rich, live in a gorgeous part of Southern California.

Well they aren't stupid. good advice.

X2 there is a reason shaw cost less and isn't as stable as the other two. There are still huge pockets of poverty there and that holds down values

Property values are skyrocketing in Shaw and there are bidding wars for any and everything. Meanwhile condos in Georgetown are lingering on the market. But you know, whatever, black people = bad.

Yeah, I'm not sure about the condo market but in terms of investment in a house I would definitely go with Shaw!