Would You Buy A House With A Sex Offender Living Next Door?
February 29th, 2008categories: Chico CA Real Estate News
Imagine yourself in this scenario.
You have been searching high and low for what seems like FOREVER, for the “perfect” new home.
You have scoured the glossy magazines available in your local supermarket. You’ve been scrambling to read the classifieds first thing every morning. As a sophisticated house hunter, you have spent hours upon hours pouring over every website in your local area. You even check Craigslist, Localism, and Zillow. Come to think of it, you know the listings in your price range better than your favorite Realtor!
After a LOT of effort, the day finally comes when you find IT.
The perfect house.
Your new house is in the right Chico neighborhood. It faces just the right direction for optimal sunlight. It has the right yard for the kids and dogs and stuff. The carpet is perfect. The laundry room is in the most convenient location. There are plenty of cupboards! All of your furniture will go perfectly.
You excitedly write the offer.
You jump up and down when your Realtor congratulates you on your pending sale.
You cancel your lease, start packing, line up friends to help you move, and spend extra time picking out just the right new paint colors for the living room.
Just when you are all geared up, your Realtor tells you that the sellers just disclosed that they live next to a sex offender.
What are you going to do?
Panic?
Live in denial, because you REALLY want the house?
Track the guy down online and memorize his tattoos, alias’ and address?
Decide he looks too old to be dangerous?
All of the above?
For many buyers, the story above hits pretty close to home. They only find out the bad news AFTER they have fallen in love with the house. Depending on personal factors, the decision about whether or not to move forward with the purchase can be an agonizing one.
One buyer I know stopped to consider what the sex offender was actually charged with. In his mind, some offenses were more worrisome than others, and he carefully weighed his decision on the information we were able to obtain. By utilizing any one of the websites below, you can find pictures of the offender, address, descriptions of identifying tattoos, and a history of offenses such as:
m647.6(a) ANNOY/MOLEST CHILDREN
288(b) LEWD OR LASCIVIOUS ACTS WITH CHILD UNDER 14 YEARS W/FORCE
f243.4(a) SEXUAL BATTERY
288.5 CONTINUOUS SEXUAL ABUSE OF CHILD
261(a)(2) RAPE BY FORCE/FEAR/ETC
261.2/261.3 PRIOR CODE-RAPE WITH FORCE AND THREAT
286(c) SODOMY WITH PERSON UNDER 14 YEARS OR WITH FORCE
288a(c) ORAL COPULATION WITH PERSON UNDER 14/ETC OR BY FORCE/ETC
220 ASSAULT W/INTENT TO COMMIT RAPE, SODOMY, OR ORAL COPULATION
Some buyers don’t express any concern whatsoever, regardless of the offense. Other buyers (probably childless) are less concerned with a convicted child molester than they might be with a 250 pound rapist.
No seller in his right mind will actually advertise up front that his house sits next door to a convicted sex offender.
Take responsibility for learning as much as you can about the neighborhood and history of your potential new Chico home! If this is an issue that is particularly sensitive for you and your family, why not do the research before you ever view the house? It will only take a minute, and you will be glad you did.
National Sex Offender Public Website
I have found all three of these websites to be particularly useful- I especially like the Family WatchDog site because it shows the locations of local Chico residents in relation to a particular address, whether it’s a school, residence, park or other location. However, I am not representing that the information provided is all-inclusive, accurate, or up-to-date. The sites are provided as additional resources only.
Although an ethical seller will disclose all known material facts to you at some point, the seller might not actually be aware of issues that could be a deal breaker for you. Some sellers just don’t know anything about their neighbors or the things that go on right next door.
Don’t forget, as a buyer, it is YOUR responsibility to be diligent in your investigation of the house, neighborhood, and any other extraneous factors that are important to you.
Hi Sandi, I recently came up against this issue in a listing interview. On two separate occasions during my hour-long stay with her, the seller made a point of telling me there was sex offender in the neighborhood, then the second time the seller went further in explicitly stating that the offender was a renter, he had been arrested, and that the whole neighborhood knew about it. Now, the problem as I see it, is not only does the buyer have the duty to investigate, but this seller had specific knowledge which she stated to me, and now so did I, so then it could become an agent disclosure issue as well. When she asked me how that would be handled in the transaction, my only choice then was to say that she would have to disclose that in writing to the buyer, even though it is also the buyer’s duty to investigate. As you stated, it’s not a problem for every buyer, so not every buyer is going to back out of a transaction for that reason. Better to disclose it up front on the TDS before the contract is signed, then the 3-day right of rescission does not kick in. In this market where you don’t want to lose a buyer, that’s tought to do. It could also be a lot less expensive in the long run.
Hi Julia,
You are absolutely right: the seller most definitely has an obligation to disclose any known material issues. As soon as the seller brought the issue to your attention, it then becomes your responsibility to disclose as well.
However, when acting as a buyer’s agent, I don’t think it’s wise to advise the buyer to depend solely on the information provided by the seller or the seller’s agent. Unfortunately, we run into unethical people all the time in this business. I think it’s important to remind the buyer that they DO have the weight of proper investigation on their shoulders, and they should not depend wholeheartedly on anything the agents or the seller says.
We do things a bit differently in CA… the TDS isn’t usually provided until AFTER the contract has been signed. The buyer typically has 17 days from signing to perform all investigations, and approve the disclosures provided by the seller. In the event that unsavory information like this comes to light during this period, the buyer can gracefully back out of the contract and retain his deposit.
While it IS a tough market, and no agent wants to lose a buyer, I can’t say that the fact makes any difference in how I handle problems such as this. I will always provide a buyer with the ugly truths about a property, even if it kills the sale. It is my obligation to do so! In the long run, the buyer will appreciate it, and value the ethical representation he received.
Great article! I agree. It is very important that buyers do their due diligence.
Hello, guess it depends on the person, family, situation, i know some offenders can be extremly minor cases that are not so harsh once you have the full story? But i do know our local area does have resources to look these potential neighbors up, and you can also search public records im sure? I guess you could cross reference and mls search with an offender website and pull results, wouldnt be a hard thing to do? Im sure someone has got that going already though. have a good one, will