Registered Sex Offender in neighborhood we're buying in--ADVICE (Volo: apartments, condos)

[sweetiejenn]

We are in the process of moving forward on purchasing a brand new construction home in Volo. Everything seemed perfect and the house is a great fit for us. Beautiful subdivision with young families and a great park. However, I came home and scoured the internet, only to find there is a registered sex offender living in that subdivision... not only that, he lives on the same STREET our house will be built on. His profile states that the victim was only 11 years old at the time of the offense. This terrifies me. I have a three year old daughter and an infant son, and we plan on living in this house for many years.

What is everyone's thoughts on this matter? Do you think it's serious enough to walk away? Am I overreacting? I just want a safe neighborhood for my children. I know that can't be guaranteed anywhere we go, but I just get a bad feeling when I think about this. I'm wondering if I should bring it up to my realtor? I'm a paranoid mom who watches too much Investigation Discovery (I actually did not want a ranch style home so my children's bedrooms weren't on ground level in case of an intruder!)... So yeah, this is not sitting well with me!!

What would you do?

[chet everett]

You are overreacting.

Unless there is an actual "halfway house" for folks transitioning from prison I would not give a second thought to a "sex crimes registry" situation. The local cops know where the offender is. They are prohibited from being too close to a school. The circumstances that lead to the "offender" ending up accused / guilty are likely not worth giving a second thought to...

The problem with a "halfway house" is that folks are coming / going much more frequently and that is a negative regardless of any "registry".

[sweetiejenn]

Originally Posted by chet everett

You are overreacting.

Unless there is an actual "halfway house" for folks transitioning from prison I would not give a second thought to a "sex crimes registry" situation. The local cops know where the offender is. They are prohibited from being too close to a school. The circumstances that lead to the "offender" ending up accused / guilty are likely not worth giving a second thought to...

The problem with a "halfway house" is that folks are coming / going much more frequently and that is a negative regardless of any "registry".

That is what I wanted to hear. Thank you!
Do you think this would hurt potential resale of the home at all?

[chet everett]

Honestly I have no way of knowing how many other buyers would bother looking up a potential new house on such a registry. My gut tells me that it is a far smaller pool of people than are averse to ranches for reasons of potential child abduction but I could be wrong ...

[sweetiejenn]

Ha! I go to city-data.com and it has the link there. Hopefully I'm the only paranoid one and no one else looks up that stuff.

[chitownperson]

Something else to consider is that EVERY suburb and city area, regardless of whether it's rich or poor, will have some amount of "sex offenders", so just because you found one in close proximity to you doesn't mean you are some how worst off than some other place. The definition of "sex offender" can mean different things too, from someone who got caught urinating in the bushes in a park where there happened to be kids close by, to someone who rapes and abducts a person, so the law doesn't differentiate between the extremes of the crimes when they throw the label "sex offender" on someone. You need to know the specifics of the crime in know how much of a threat that person may pose, and even then, you need to consider that a lot of sex crimes come about where the attacker knows the victim, so unless you will be hanging out and getting to know this person, you will alleviate some amount of danger by merely staying strangers.

I doubt you're the only concerned parent, as I'm sure there are other parents that look up such info when they have kids, but that should be a relief to you as there will probably be other parents looking out for suspicious activity too. If the community, or the block is tight knit, and share concern for each other, then I wouldn't worry too much.

[sweetiejenn]

Originally Posted by chitownperson

Something else to consider is that EVERY suburb and city area, regardless of whether it's rich or poor, will have some amount of "sex offenders", so just because you found one in close proximity to you doesn't mean you are some how worst off than some other place. The definition of "sex offender" can mean different things too, from someone who got caught urinating in the bushes in a park where there happened to be kids close by, to someone who rapes and abducts a person, so the law doesn't differentiate between the extremes of the crimes when they throw the label "sex offender" on someone. You need to know the specifics of the crime in know how much of a threat that person may pose, and even then, you need to consider that a lot of sex crimes come about where the attacker knows the victim, so unless you will be hanging out and getting to know this person, you will alleviate some amount of danger by merely staying strangers.

I doubt you're the only concerned parent, as I'm sure there are other parents that look up such info when they have kids, but that should be a relief to you as there will probably be other parents looking out for suspicious activity too. If the community, or the block is tight knit, and share concern for each other, then I wouldn't worry too much.

Thanks so much! I think the fact that it's the same street is what has me so concerned. But this definitely alleviates some of my anxiety.

[yousah]

We had a sex offender who lived about 5 houses away. I ended up installing outdoor cameras around my entire house. The guy eventually died.

Chi has the best information. It's too bad that the state doesn't differeniate between different types of sexual crimes. There's a big difference between an 18 year old kid having some sort of issue with his 16 year old girlfriend versus some guy who steals kids off the street.

One thing to keep in mind is that sex offenders live all over the place and you can buy somewhere where there are none nearby only to have someone move in shortly after you buy there.

[Lookout Kid]

Unfortunately, you should probably assume you have a sex offender living up the street no matter where you are living. Most of the crimes of this nature that occur are reported years later, and the registered offenders are only the people who have been caught, prosecuted, and convicted.

That said, I ALWAYS check the website before putting an offer in on a house. If you KNOW the guy next door is a child predator, that will not be a comfortable place to live. I would walk away if I could do it legally.

[kindrakindra]

Originally Posted by chitownperson

Something else to consider is that EVERY suburb and city area, regardless of whether it's rich or poor, will have some amount of "sex offenders", so just because you found one in close proximity to you doesn't mean you are some how worst off than some other place. The definition of "sex offender" can mean different things too, from someone who got caught urinating in the bushes in a park where there happened to be kids close by, to someone who rapes and abducts a person, so the law doesn't differentiate between the extremes of the crimes when they throw the label "sex offender" on someone. You need to know the specifics of the crime in know how much of a threat that person may pose, and even then, you need to consider that a lot of sex crimes come about where the attacker knows the victim, so unless you will be hanging out and getting to know this person, you will alleviate some amount of danger by merely staying strangers.

I doubt you're the only concerned parent, as I'm sure there are other parents that look up such info when they have kids, but that should be a relief to you as there will probably be other parents looking out for suspicious activity too. If the community, or the block is tight knit, and share concern for each other, then I wouldn't worry too much.

I agree with this. If you live an urban area with a mix of apartments, condos, single family homes, you are certainly going to have a mix of people that is well beyond your control. You are also going to have a significant number of bikers, walkers, runners, cars, school buses and children passing by and filling the streets and sidewalks. The difference in the OP's situation is that this is a new development with only single family homes. At any given time of the day, there won't be a ton of people outside nor cars passing by. That makes it more concerning to live on the same block as a registered sex offender. In your case, I would never do it.