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You think the realtors care only about the color of the money. — Brooklynian

You think the realtors care only about the color of the money.

armchair_warrior
armchair_warrior
edited November -1 in Brooklyn Politics

apparently not. I have in the past many times had white friends call to see houses, because some times it was hard for me to get appointments.

The study reveals that minority renters and home buyers are told about and shown fewer homes and apartments. Black renters who contact agents about recently advertised units learn about 11% fewer available units and are shown roughly 4% fewer units. Black homebuyers who contact agents about recently advertised homes learn about 17% fewer available homes and are shown about 18% fewer units.

Similarly, Asian renters who contact agents about recently advertised housing units learn about 10% fewer available units and are shown nearly 7% fewer units. In addition, Asian home buyers learn about 15% fewer available homes and are shown nearly 19% fewer units.

Hispanic renters who contact agents about recently advertised housing units learn about 12% fewer available units and are shown roughly 7% fewer units.

However, the difference in treatment for Hispanic home buyers is not statistically significant, the study finds.

http://www.mortgageorb.com/e107_plugins/content/content.php?content.13947

Comments

  • newguy88
    newguy88

    Actually the numbers for racial discrimination are better than I thought they would be. I know of people who are looking in historically Hasidic areas of Brooklyn that are slowly diversifying and have been illegally refused apartments by landlords. So I'd be interested to see the numbers about religious or homophobic housing discrimination in housing.

  • pragmaticguy
    pragmaticguy

    Unfortunately there seems to be a "hierarchy" of who should be able to buy houses in certain areas. When I was selling my house in Canarsie back in 1987 it was still predominantly white. But the blacks had started to move into the area and in fact there was a black family that moved onto the block the same week I did which was in 1980. The realtor I dealt with at the time had a largely minority clientele and showed the house to many African-American families. People on the block gave them dirty looks when they came to see the house and when I walked down the street they made plenty of comments and spit in my direction. A bunch of the "neighbors" even came by and threatened to firebomb the house. That's when I got the police involved and the bias unit went to each of them and told them if anything happened they'd all be arrested. When the listing expired I changed agents and they ended up selling the house to Asians and everyone on the block was thrilled. Apparently the more things change the more they remain the same.

  • taruca
    taruca

    Sigh!

    Year: 1995. I was fairly new in the US, a young professional Hispanic female with a full time job.

    I contacted a broker about a 1 bedroom in Brooklyn Heights. After some run around he told me: "I will work with you, but the owner prefers to rent to certain types, so come with me to see him now, but don't say a word. I'll do all the talking." My instinct told me to trust this broker.

    Off we went and I sat there as Mr. Landlord asked with displeasure why someone like me (and he would point at me) would be interested in his apartment. Mr. Broker was able to convince him I was no different from other potential candidates and I had the stability and the required income. I got the apartment but was in a state of shock.

    To Mr. Landlord's credit I will say that once he got to know me, he was extremely efficient, responsive and even courteous.

    I have other stories...

  • landlord
    landlord

    In the mid 90's I rented an apartment in park slope to a single black father who wanted his daughter to go to a good school. Being an administrative assistant he was not making much and I agreed to a lower rent in exchange for some maintenance work around the building.

    The landlord next door got very upset at me for renting an apartment to a black man and said "just when we are trying to improve the quality of people in the neighborhood you bring him on board"! I told him to shove it.

    That tenant was one of the best I had...and he was a great father as well.

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