On this episode we focused for the most part on a single topic. The topic came from Barry C’s latest blog post, “The NAR is a Sex Offender’s Best Friend“. We discussed the post at length and had experts on the show including Robert Lechtenberg, an expert witness in the case, and Dr. Danielle Babb, a renowned real estate expert.
The entire show today centered around an article Barry C read in USA Today, and then wrote a post about it titled, Â ”The NAR is a Sex Offender’s Best Friend“. The story and blog post revolve around a court case in which a family bought a home next door to where a sexual predator lived. They were never informed of the material fact by either the seller or the agents involved.
Our first guest is an expert witness in the case, Robert Lechtenberg from Hanson Appraisal Services. It was his responsibility to put a value on the home and measure a quantifiable loss taken by the buyers. In addition to the percent that Mr. Lechtenberg described, his research uncovered a number of interesting items he shared with us.
Next on the show we had the pleasure of speaking with Dr. Danielle Babb. Dr. Babb is a well known and respected expert on real estate, technology, and economics. In addition to this case where she gave us insight on certain State regulations regarding disclosure, we also talked to her regarding technology’s effect on the current real estate business model, how Bear Stearns and Wall Street are effecting local real estate markets, and what she sees for the market in the months and years to come.
Barry J
“Gentlemen” don’t rape their daughters.
Is it any wonder that NAR doesn’t have a shred of credibility? Unbelievable!
Dear sirs,
After one of my staff listened to your program yesterday and upon my listening, I would like to address one point. Specifically you inquired about my opinion on real estate brokers fear of being sued for discrimination for revealing the prescence of a sexual offender or predator. HUD enforces the THE FAIR HOUSING ACT you not allowed to discriminate because of the following:
race or color
religion
sex
national origin
familial status, or disability
These are the protected classes that this law addresses. You will notice that age is not included because you can restrict sales to for instance 55 years of age and over.
A felon is not part of a protected class. In HUD owned and manged apartments a felony will in most cases get you evicted. Most property managers run backround checks and will not rent to convicted felons in general and sexual offenders and predators in particular. To do so would open them up to lawsuit in the event of a crime perpatrated by the tenant with the record on the property.
The next time a broker says they are afraid of getting sued for discriminating against a sexual offender or predator ask them to point out what part of the federal fair housing act prohibits discrimination against felons.
Thanks for having me on your show, Hopefully buyers will recognize that they have to check for these offenders and predators.