Minorities Report Discrimination In Second Home Purchases
(The real estate and housing market is definitely in a state of transition right now, and many shifts are taking place. )
One interesting and positive aspect of the real estate market right now, amidst a slew of bad news is that more and more minorities are buying property. Not only regular residential units, but second homes or vacation homes as well.
But with this good news also comes more complaints that these minorities that are buying property or trying to buy are also getting discriminated against.
A September 15, 2006 article by Troy McMullen of The Wall Street Journal, “Trouble in Paradise,” discusses how an increasing number of minorities are reporting discrimination in areas of second home purchases.
Most of these complaints are coming from areas that are popular for vacation homes such as Las Vegas, and other resort communities.
“Discrimination apparently doesn't go on vacation. As part of the past decade's real-estate boom, minority home-ownership has grown. About 52% of minorities owned their own homes in 2005, up from 48.8% in 2001. Affluent minorities have also been scooping up vacation homes, nearly doubling their share of the second-home market in recent years: African-Americans, Latinos and Asians accounted for 11% of vacation-home purchases between 2003 and 2005, up from 6% in 2002 or earlier, according to the National Association of Realtors.”
But as more and more minorities are buying second properties, more and more complaints are reported, something that has many people concerned. The discrimination complaints stemming from real estate transactions range in a wide variety.
Some people report being steered away from ritzy areas because they were a minority, while others report racial slurs being used. The scale of bias and discrimination being reported is very broad.
One man reports putting an offer in on a home in Sedona, Ariz. Only to be turned down on closing day because the buyer found out he was African-American.
“But as second-home purchases by minorities have risen, so have the number of real-estate-related discrimination complaints in those markets, say housing watchdog groups and lawyers.”
“In Las Vegas, there were 48 bias complaints filed last year with the local chapter of the NAACP regarding second-home transactions, nearly double the number in 2002. In Palm Beach County, Fla., there were 144 race-based housing complaints made to the local chapter of the nonprofit National Fair Housing Alliance in 2005, a 30% increase over the previous year, with many of them being filed by first-time second-home buyers. Bias claims are also up in Naples, Fla., and San Diego County, according to data from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.”
Discrimination and racism has always existed within this field, it is just becoming more prominent in certain areas since minorities are starting to buy second or third homes in areas that have been predominantly Caucasian in the past.
This is a problem that needs to be taken care of at once, and it will only cause more damage to this already fragile industry if action is not taken immediately.
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