Are there any Civil Rights real estate specialists on DU?
I have made it a personal practice of looking at real estate practices that may explain the resistance of some locations to diversify. Obviously, everyone knows that you can't overtly discriminate based on race, nationality, creed etc. But there are subtle ways to ward of the same groups. High real estate is a known deterrent but there's not much you can do about the price of a house. If that's the worth of the neighborhood, then it's the cost to get in.
However, how about Association fees? Could a neighborhood intentionally pump up their Association fees to add another obstacle?
Or, could a homeowner demand proof that you can buy the house without a mortgage? In other words, he wants cash only. Does that give him the power to decide who he will allow to buy his house with a mortgage?
I always wondered if there was some subtle discriminatory practices taking place in my community since the day, many years ago, when I placed a call to a Christian private school. The call went into a recorded message and the message said something to the effect that if you were waiting for tickets for the Oliver North event that they would be available on a certain date. I remember thinking that anyone who was calling the school, who wasn't a Republican would probably not enroll their children; and I always wondered if that was the point.
