As the market cools, marketing ploys for all sorts of reasons keep cropping up. Private developers are barring registered sex offenders from purchasing properties within their developments [USAToday].
Don’t get me wrong, I don’t want a sexual predator as a neighbor and don’t mind the rules, but to openly incorporate this into a marketing strategy when selling homes seems wrong because it paints a false sense of security:
The sex offender deal has improved demand. It’s probably increased our sales three to four times,” says I&S partner Clayton Isom, 24. “We’re fighting sex offenders head on.
Really? 3-4 times?
The restrictions may give a false sense of security, because they do not bar offenders from traveling into a prohibited area, says Carolyn Atwell-Davis of the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. The private group prefers better tracking of offenders, workplace restrictions and increased penalties for non-registration.
The bans focus on strangers, but parents need to understand that 80% of offenders know their victims, says John La Fond, author of Preventing Sexual Violence: How Society Should Cope With Sex Offenders [Amazon].
How how one developer set up enforcement [Kansas City Star]:
- The homeowners’ association enforces the sex-offender restrictions.
- The developers conduct background checks, which can cost as much as $200 a family.
- If someone in the household is a registered sex offender, the deal ends.
- The restrictions don’t apply to people who’ve left the sex-offender registry. People who have other crimes on their records will not be affected.
- If a homeowner becomes a registered offender after moving in, the association imposes a fine of at least $1,000 a day until the offender moves out.
- To collect the money, a lien can be put on the property.
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