Sex offender on block a real estate deal breaker?

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After almost 10 months of searching, we thought we finally found the perfect house. It had a basement and a playroom, a nice backyard and the owners had done a great job decorating and caring for the home. The only problems were our cat allergies and some outdated carpeting in the basement. After figuring out how we could de-cat the house and deciding to worry about the carpet later, we made an offer. The owners stuck to their guns on price, and rejected our first two offers. We were taking the weekend off from negotiating, but we felt certain we would reach a deal on Monday.

I had been meaning to check Gwinnett County’s sex offender database, but hadn’t done so yet. It’s a well established, very nice neighborhood. In my mind checking the list was merely a formality.

I finally looked that weekend. Not only did I find a sex offender in the neighborhood, I found one a few houses down from our dream house.

The man’s offense was listed as indecent exposure.

My husband’s knee-jerk reaction was, “Boy, that should bring the price down.”

A registered sex offender on the block is one heck of a negotiating tool, but is it really worth the risk?

My husband didn’t think we should stop pursuing the house. I felt like we should, but I was willing to investigate to get details on the crime.

If the registry had said child molestation, rape or sexual assault, it wouldn’t have even been a question. But what exactly does indecent exposure mean?

“Maybe it was just a guy who got arrested for peeing outside,” suggested my Dad.

My girlfriends thought we would be stupid to move into a house with a known sex offender on the block no matter what the charge. One asked, “What would you tell the children ‘Don’t talk to our neighbor. He’s done bad things.’” Would we explain to the kids what a sex crime is?

The next day, I called the Gwinnett County sheriff’s office and spoke with the officer in charge of the sex offender registry. She had more information about the case and knew the man personally. She checks in with all the sex offenders from the county quarterly and they have to re-register each year on their birthdays. She suggested I call the agency in the town where the crime was committed.

I called that county’s sex offender department. This officer told me my would-be neighbor was sentenced to several years in prison for the crime (She couldn’t tell from the files if he served the full amount of his sentence). She said she couldn’t release all the information to me, but she suggested I contact two other counties about possible earlier incidents involving the same man.

By that point my mind was made up. One conviction and two other possible incidents mean I don’t buy that house. My husband agreed.

Did we make the right decision, or did we overreact?

Any neighbor, any time could be a sex offender just not one that’s been caught.

Three of the officers I spoke with made the point that at least this way you knew who to watch out for. I’m not sure that makes me feel any better.

As upsetting as it is looking at the photos of all te sex offenders and reading about their crimes, the registry is a helpful tool. I have already mapped the other offenders in the area we are considering moving to, so we won’t get caught by surprise again.