Blockbusting
Blockbusting is a despicable and illegal racist business practice.
Here’s how Blockbusting happens: a real estate agent, or someone posing as one, comes to a homeowner and instills him (or her) with fear of racial minorities, saying and showing bogus stats that a large number of whatever minority the homeowner prejudicially feared was moving into their neighborhood in large numbers. Because of that, the homeowner would sell the property for a lower market price, and, in turn, the alleged real estate agent would sell at a higher market price to the exact minority the original owner feared.
The practice of blockbusting has been done to White, Black, Jews, and Foreign people, but the most notorious blockbusting practices were done with White and Black, after 1910 when over a million African American from the rural southern states of the United States of America moved north to industrialized cities in need of workers due to the World War I, which recruited many workers to serve in the US Army. The scars of Civil War and Slavery were still open, so profiteers would take advantage of that, and even hire “actors” to create a sense of overwhelming presence of black people in traditionally white neighborhoods.
Blockbusting practices were nationally exposed in the 1960’s with the civil rights movement. Because of it, stricter federal real estate laws were conceived, which made blockbusting harder. For instance: door-to-door real estate solicitation got restricted in several states to avoid blockbusting. The most important measure against blockbusting, however, was 1968’s Fair Housing Act which made (by law) religion, race, and ethnicity of a neighborhood’s inhabitants part of what a real estate agent can’t tell a home buyer client when showing a house.
Work only with credible real estate agents! Find one at The OFFICIAL Real Estate Agent Directory®.
Popular Real Estate Terms
Part of a building that is connected to but leads away from the main structure. ...
A corporation that owns housing units and whose tenants purchase shares in the corporation equivalent to the value of their housing unit. Also called co-ops. ...
Having two families live in a residence designed for only one family. This violates single-family residence zoning. ...
Use of a parcel of land that will produce the greatest current value. ...
Is a stockholder-owned corporation known as Freddie Mac. Freddie Mac purchases investment-quality mortgage from lenders and packages from lenders and packages them as securities which are ...
A report required by the Interstate Land Sale Act for the sale of subdivisions having 50 or more lots. It is filed with the Federal Department of Housing and urban Development's Office of ...
The right to demand that title be conveyed upon payment of the purchase price. ...
Person protecting himself from risk or negative consequences, such as by taking out homeowner's insurance. Material used to block or restrain something from entering a house, ...
Listing of all of the plats of subdivided plots in a jurisdiction showing the location, boundaries, and plat owners. A plat book normally shows other improvements including roads, blocks, ...
Have a question or comment?
We're here to help.