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I know that real estate agents can't tell you the racial composition of the area,
But can they tell you:
% of owner occupied dwellings?
Mean, and median income? And if it had been rising, dropping or staying steady?
What about zoning ordinances (as in - multi family housing is not allowed, no fear downs etc.)
% of school children eligible for free or reduced lunch?
Drop out rate?
Average educational attainment?
Average household size?
% of homes headed by a single woman?
% of homes headed by a married couple?
% of people under 18 in the community in relation to the population?
% of people that are elderly?
Ratio of men to women both overall and amongst people under 18
Crime rates? Are they rising or falling or staying constant?
What kind of crimes?
For instance you don't want to live in a town that's 30% owner occupied with a disproportionate amount of boys under 18 that are poor.
Bored and low income young males with single parents to busy to supervise them are likely to get into trouble.
You don't want to live in a town that is permissive in regards to zoning apartments with a large number of elderly people. When they die their homes can be bought converted into low income rentals.
You might be less concerned about a rising crime rate if the vast majority of crimes are petty shoplifting and underage drinking.
What of these can your realtor not tell you? I know a couple who had a broker say that she cannot help them after they asked for a town with high percentage of Italian Americans like themself, I always thought that the only thing that they could not say is something like "this area is 23% Asian" of something. And while those demographics are important to where you want tol live, that info is very easy to find. However the other stuff you have to dig for and if you are researching 6 different suburbs or areas that could take awhile:
Does it matter? You can find any meaningful demographics online, the same place your agent would have to find them. There isn't some real estate agent demographics clearing house available only to professionals. What makes you think they would know more than the Internet?
How would any realtor know what the percentage of Italian-Americans is in a neighborhood?
Most real estate agents will tell you to go to the US Census website and will not give you any neighborhood demographics. They can get sideways on Fair Housing on the basis of any assertion, factual or not.
Basic data about a community can be found here on City Data but it is extracted from census data.
Most real estate agents will tell you to go to the US Census website and will not give you any neighborhood demographics. They can get sideways on Fair Housing on the basis of any assertion, factual or not.
Basic data about a community can be found here on City Data but it is extracted from census data.
I have noticed that some info on here can be a bit dated or a little bit off when comparing it to census data though. So, you may want to check multiple sources for information.
Fair Housing Laws prevent us from disclosing most of the stuff on your list. Realtors can and should refer you to the appropriate websites/places to obtain this information if it is important to you. Census website, spotcrime, greatschools, ect are all going to help clients make their decision if demographics are a factor.
I know that real estate agents can't tell you the racial composition of the area,
But can they tell you:
% of owner occupied dwellings?
Mean, and median income? And if it had been rising, dropping or staying steady?
What about zoning ordinances (as in - multi family housing is not allowed, no fear downs etc.)
% of school children eligible for free or reduced lunch?
Drop out rate?
Average educational attainment?
Average household size?
% of homes headed by a single woman?
% of homes headed by a married couple?
% of people under 18 in the community in relation to the population?
% of people that are elderly?
Ratio of men to women both overall and amongst people under 18
Crime rates? Are they rising or falling or staying constant?
What kind of crimes?
For instance you don't want to live in a town that's 30% owner occupied with a disproportionate amount of boys under 18 that are poor.
Bored and low income young males with single parents to busy to supervise them are likely to get into trouble.
You don't want to live in a town that is permissive in regards to zoning apartments with a large number of elderly people. When they die their homes can be bought converted into low income rentals.
You might be less concerned about a rising crime rate if the vast majority of crimes are petty shoplifting and underage drinking.
What of these can your realtor not tell you? I know a couple who had a broker say that she cannot help them after they asked for a town with high percentage of Italian Americans like themself, I always thought that the only thing that they could not say is something like "this area is 23% Asian" of something. And while those demographics are important to where you want tol live, that info is very easy to find. However the other stuff you have to dig for and if you are researching 6 different suburbs or areas that could take awhile:
There are websites (worse these days because they are harder to dig up) that have this info. Agreed that some are better than others. I also check with the local police department about crime rates in a specific area.
Yes, realtors have to be careful about what they say. It's interesting that we used one down here and asked her about a neighborhood. They cannot be specific but they can drop enough information on you to give you a good idea to run from that area. The only weird thing about that is she didn't steer someone we knew away from a bad area. Our friend managed to get out of the contract when she learned about the area. We now go on point (she's out of state) to help her check out homes long distance.
You can look up most of that data right here on //www.city-data.com/ for pretty much any city or town in the USA. You can even find a lot of that data broken down by zip-code and voting districts and other regions withing a city.
It always surprises me how few people that use City-Data are unaware of those resources.
There are all manner of laws that real estate agents are required to adhere to. I just attended a class this week about Disclosures and when it comes down to it it is best to be the Source of the Source. Meaning I can point you in the right direction to find out the information you need but I cannot tell you directly else I would be risking a potential law suit.
HUGE Red Flags like a young family looking at a house next to a known sex offender. We are not legally allowed to say you don't want to buy this house because there is a level 3 sex offender next door. Stupid right, but instead we can only strongly suggest that the potential buyers check the sex offender data base or call the police to check with them.
My partner had a buyer who was interested in a cheap house. It was cheap because it wasn't in a nice neighborhood. She called the listing agent to arrange a showing and he said I will show it as long as your client doesn't mind being robbed, stabbed, raped or possibly murdered. Since he said it my partner could pass that info along. They crossed that property off the list.
It is always best to do your own research to satisfy your curiosity. Not all but some agents are just looking to make a quick sale and like a bad used car salesman will tell you anything. DO YOUR HOMEWORK.
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