The True Nature of Blockbusting
In the United States, we have seen many methods developed over time to keep certain areas for specific racies through segregation. One of them is commonly known as “blockbusting”. The practice of blockbusting will be revealed in the next few paragraphs, as well as the reason why the real estate community views it as a completely unethical and illegal practice.The practice of blockbusting was a technique used to encourage minorities of a higher economic resources to move out of inner city ghettos and into the subburbs at a highly inflated price. Previous real estate professionals often used the following techniques to reach their goals.In the begining, the families living in the chosen suburban neighborhood was fooled into thinking that their neighborhood was being taken over by minorities moving in. This was accomplished by the real estate agents hiring blacks and other minority races to act as agent provocateurs. .
One of the simplest techniques utilized included hiring a young black couple to walk leisurely through a neighborhood that was predominately white. This would help convince the people living their that black were moving in, and their home values would soon be plummeting. At this point, many owners would become scared, and sell their home at a loss to the real estate developer. These homes were then resold at a much higher price to the waiting minority families. At that point, the real estate company would then use the fact that a minority family has moved in as “evidence” that the neighborhood was being taken over by blacks, or some other minority, something which at the time was seen as fearful and problematic by many in the white community. The developers and real estate agents would then blanket the neighborhood with flyers, postcards in the mailboxes, offering quick cash for the sale of houses.
Superior CO real estate, Colorado real estate, or anywhere in between, it’s pretty similar: Another common strategy was for the real estate professional to buy up homes in the area and leave them abandoned. Over time, the disrepair seen would be used as a reason to devalue the other homes in the immediate area. The strategies presented here were often used in conjunction with the social feelings about race by real estate developers to not only buy properties at a reduced price, but also to resell them at a considerable profit..
Everything was transformed however, when media exposure in the early 1960s led to legal and professional reforms in the industry. In the early 1960s, newspaper exposure led to the eventual passing of the Fair Housing Act of 1968, and the Supreme Court decision of Jones v. Alfred H. Mayer Co (1968) made it illegal for professionals to say that minorities were moving into an area to cause the home values to fall.. Not only did this help to lead to more diverse neighborhoods, but it also helped minorities obtain better deals than they were originally offered for their new homes.
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