Blockbusting
Definition of "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
Deed of trust or mortgage in real estate in which the lender subordinates her loan to another lender whose priority is first if there is nonpayment by the borrower. ...
Buildings in England in the 16th and 17th century with strong foundations, supports, studs, and knees. In American architecture this originally building has been combined with the English ...
(1) Civil: Individual against whom a court action is brought by a plaintiff for restitution of property or satisfaction of a complaint. (2) Criminal: Individual accused of a crime such ...
Also called accounting or unadjusted rate of return. The return computed by dividing the anticipated future annual net income by the required investment in real estate. Sometimes the ...
Legislation in 13 states providing protection to people who rent their residences. The act deals with landlord-tenant contractual relationships and obligations. ...
When we talk about adverse environmental impacts, we always refer to the man-made negative impact on the environment. An adverse environmental impact can be defined as negative changes that ...
Association of people not treated as a corporation. Examples are a limited partnership and a group of cooperative owners. ...
Direct line of descent as from father to son. An example of a lineal hereditament would be passing of the title of real property by virtue of a will to the first-born son. ...
To approximate the worth or valuation of property To give an appraisal value estimate of property. Property value appraisals are never exact, and are at best approximations of actual ...
Have a question or comment?
We're here to help.