New Sex Offender Real Estate Website
Private housing developers are joining a surging number of communities that are telling convicted sex offenders who need a place to live: "Not in my backyard."
A Texas-based company, I&S Investment Group, is breaking ground this summer on a 154-lot development in Lenexa, Kan., that will bar registered sex offenders. If someone is convicted of a sex crime while living there, the subdivision will fine the person $1,500 daily until he or she moves. The group has sold out all 150 lots in its first such development in Lubbock, Texas, begun 10 months ago, and plans to offer 250 more lots there this fall.
"The sex offender deal has improved demand. It's probably increased our sales three to four times," says I&S partner Clayton Isom, 24. "We're fighting sex offenders head on."
Another Texan, Taylor Goodman, today launched a website, Blockwatcher.com, listing homes for sale that have no registered sex offenders living within a half-mile radius. He says only 20% of available homes will qualify.
"These guys are just everywhere," Goodman says of roughly 567,000 sex offenders registered nationwide. The site carries disclaimers, however, noting that thousands of offenders haven't registered and thousands more have listed phony addresses.
The new private efforts complement an accelerating push by states and cities to bar sex offenders from living near schools or playgrounds. Hundreds of cities, including more than a dozen this year alone, have approved such ordinances, some of which block out entire downtowns.
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posted by Justin Smith @ 6/19/2006 12:33:00 PM
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