Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PP Do what people are doing around the country. Build "parks" near where they live. Sex offenders cannot live within a certain distance of a park. Find an area, throw in a swing and instant park.

Finding a random plot of land and putting a swing on it does not make it a "park". I am a pp with a sex offender in my neighborhood. This sex offender lives VERY close (.25 miles) to our community playground (owned/maintained by our HOA, not the city or county).

PP that wrote the above (the one with the sex offender living .25 miles away from playground)

The other SO in our neighborhood (the one that was only recently convicted) lives .11 miles away from the same playground "as the crow flies", but using our neighborhood trail system, is about 1/3 mile away, and if you were to use only "drivable" roads, it is nearly a mile. When they are measuring distance a SO may live from parks, I"m not sure if it's a "straight shot" or if the distance using walking trails counts, or if it must be on drivable streets or what...

Anonymous wrote:What's the best way to get these people out of the neighborhoods?

Pitchforks and torches.

Anonymous wrote:PP Do what people are doing around the country. Build "parks" near where they live. Sex offenders cannot live within a certain distance of a park. Find an area, throw in a swing and instant park.

Finding a random plot of land and putting a swing on it does not make it a "park". I am a pp with a sex offender in my neighborhood. This sex offender lives VERY close (.25 miles) to our community playground (owned/maintained by our HOA, not the city or county).

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. So it sounds like you are saying its not a matter of a price reduction, but its more you either bid or you won't?

Why are you so hung up on the "price reduction". Either you think this SO is a threat to your kids, or you don't. If you think he is such a threat that you want a "price reduction", you're basically putting a price on your kids safety. "If the house is $500,000--I'm not willing to let my kids get raped by this SO. But if you lower the price to $450,000, I'm willing to make them a target of a sexual predator"--Is that what you are thinking?

I think what the OP is suggesting (and I think there's truth to it) is that sex offenders can bring down the value of the house. I do think that an area with a high number of sex offenders will probably see a decrease in property value.

BUT the problem is that it doesn't necessarily make it a negotiating point, for the same reason as a bad school district doesn't become a negotiating point -- because it brings down the values of *all* the houses in the neighborhood. So, the comps of recent sales in the neighborhood should still be valid.

But don't shame the OP for asking! Of course, you're going to be concerned if something is going to hurt resale. But the easy way to go about this is to pull comps from the neighborhood (i.e. houses that are in the same vicinity of the sex offender), and use those comps as a basis for negotiating, without even having to mention the sex offender thing. If the house is already priced well in relation to comps, then it's all a moot point!

But otherwise, I don't think that even legally a real estate agent is allowed to discuss sex offenders (it's kind of like discussing crime or section 8 housing or even schools, which I guess realtors still do anyhow, even though they're not supposed to). There are databases and resources for people to check. Other than that, use comps and actual features of the property to negotiate price.

No, the OP should feel shame. She is willing to put her children in what she feels is a dangerous situation "for the right price." That is disgusting.

Anonymous wrote:I personally ruled out homes for this. I can't control what I ont know, but I can control exposing myself to known risks. And since many people perpetrate a number of times before getting caught I wouldn't assume it was only once years ago.

I agree. That's why I wouldn't move to a house with a sex offender next door. But a mile away, 2 miles. I think you have to expect that in a dense area, you're not going to find a house that doesn't have some sex offenders in the vicinity. but I do think it makes a difference if there is one next door, or 2 doors down.

That said, i looked at a house and realized there was a sex offender directly next door. We didn't buy the house for a number of reasons, but that house sat for 2 years, and then they decided to rent it out. (my realtor kept tabs, because we were curious.)

Now, I wouldn't say it didn't sell because of the sex offender next door, but I'm sure that didn't help.

I do think that there is some insurance in buying close enough to a small park, preschool or elementary school that a sex offender couldn't move within that radius.

I personally ruled out homes for this. I can't control what I ont know, but I can control exposing myself to known risks. And since many people perpetrate a number of times before getting caught I wouldn't assume it was only once years ago.

PP Do what people are doing around the country. Build "parks" near where they live. Sex offenders cannot live within a certain distance of a park. Find an area, throw in a swing and instant park.

I just checked the house we are buying and there are two two blocks away which is not what I was expecting to see. But, as others have said you can buy the house and they move next door.

Like others have said, you need to be vigelent and aware of the ones not on the registry. Jerry Sandusky lived in a very affluent neighborhood and wasn't registered for years. That's the crap that keeps you up at night.

The sex offenders on the registry are not the ones to worry about. It is the rest of them that aren't on the registry that pose a risk to you.

You could buy a house and then a sex offender could move in next door and there is nothing you can do about it. The registry is there to inform you so that you can keep an eye out for interactions with these people. Buy the house if you like it,

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. So it sounds like you are saying its not a matter of a price reduction, but its more you either bid or you won't?

Why are you so hung up on the "price reduction". Either you think this SO is a threat to your kids, or you don't. If you think he is such a threat that you want a "price reduction", you're basically putting a price on your kids safety. "If the house is $500,000--I'm not willing to let my kids get raped by this SO. But if you lower the price to $450,000, I'm willing to make them a target of a sexual predator"--Is that what you are thinking?

I think what the OP is suggesting (and I think there's truth to it) is that sex offenders can bring down the value of the house. I do think that an area with a high number of sex offenders will probably see a decrease in property value.

BUT the problem is that it doesn't necessarily make it a negotiating point, for the same reason as a bad school district doesn't become a negotiating point -- because it brings down the values of *all* the houses in the neighborhood. So, the comps of recent sales in the neighborhood should still be valid.

But don't shame the OP for asking! Of course, you're going to be concerned if something is going to hurt resale. But the easy way to go about this is to pull comps from the neighborhood (i.e. houses that are in the same vicinity of the sex offender), and use those comps as a basis for negotiating, without even having to mention the sex offender thing. If the house is already priced well in relation to comps, then it's all a moot point!

But otherwise, I don't think that even legally a real estate agent is allowed to discuss sex offenders (it's kind of like discussing crime or section 8 housing or even schools, which I guess realtors still do anyhow, even though they're not supposed to). There are databases and resources for people to check. Other than that, use comps and actual features of the property to negotiate price.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. So it sounds like you are saying its not a matter of a price reduction, but its more you either bid or you won't?

You need to rethink your position. Either you find the danger to your child unacceptable and you don't bid on the house or you believe that you can be vigilent and careful and you do. Trying to get a price reduction on something like this I find to be rather sleezy. It says that you don't actually find it unacceptable, but that you are just using any old excuse to try and save yourself some money. Personally, if I were a seller and a buyer tried this stunt, I would turn the offer down and would not counter. It sounds like someone that I wouldn't want to deal with and wouldn't trust.

Totally agree.

We carefully checked the registry before buying our house in a lovely upper middle class neighborhood in another state. We lived there for two years, opened the newspaper one morning and found that a man ON OUR BLOCK had been arrested for child pornography!! We didn't know him, except to nod in passing. We could not have been more shocked. He was in jail, and some family members sold his house.

What I'm trying to say, OP, is buy the house if you like it and if it's in a decent neighborhood. There's NO guarantee that there will be no sex offenders in your neighborhood. I agree with PPs that the ones on the registry are likely the least of your worries. Look around your neighborhood and keep a close watch on your children.

Anonymous wrote:What's the best way to get these people out of the neighborhoods?

They have to live somewhere. And frankly, there's a wide range of activity that can be classified as "sex offender."

Honestly, I would only worry if the sex offender were next door.

I don't think you're going to find a house in a dense region like this that doesn't have a sex offender in the area.

You just make a note, keep an eye out and avoid the person.

But if the person is directly next door, it's difficult to avoid the person, and I'd always worry about whether they were watching me.