Beyond “getting the listing,” apart from making the sale – and quite apart from the inspection and the financing and the closing – the most angst-producing moments for residential real estate agents are, of course, answering the questions.
You know what I mean. Explaining what is meant by a “cozy” house. Responding to concerns that the target property is “dated,” which could actually mean “charming” if you’re in the mood for linoleum floors and brass handles.
While this level of inquiry may be child’s play for the experienced, veteran agent, there are some questions that defy easy answers; that give one pause no matter how often they are asked.
A novice to the neighborhood might ask how the schools are. Oh, dear. What is it that they are really asking? Are they looking for an International Baccalaureate program, are they looking for Advanced Placement classes, are they seeking out graduation rates or admissions to snobby colleges? Or are they really asking what percentage of the student body are minorities? The agent must tread carefully.
And what of the “safety” of the neighborhood? Is this merely shorthand for how “culturally diverse” the neighborhood might be – or are they truly interested in whether mom can go for a stroll around the block after the sun goes down?
In most middle-class to super-snobby areas, it might be safe to say that the worst crimes against nature might be the occasional pink flamingo placed on the front lawn – or the RV parked in the driveway for weeks on end. And for the truly scary, shots-heard-every-night parcels, the questions need hardly be asked: The price of the home and the sound of the sirens are clear enough.
Keep Your Friends Close…
The safety question is more interesting as a “macro” question, not limited to a stroll down the street, but to the town, to the region, and perhaps to the state. The “crime rate” question is blunt – and the answers often murky and unsatisfying.
Each year, CQ Press publishes its well-publicized city-by-city crime rankings, to the collective howl of assorted mayors, police chiefs, academics and travel-and-tourism professionals. The collective urban apologists say that crime statistics and crime reporting and sorting by vague category opens the door to too many variables to offer up an accurate local picture or comparison.
On the CQ website this year, publisher John Jenkins confesses that the crime-ranking data “contains many variables.” But he also tells the towns to stop being crybabies: “…we take very seriously our responsibility to keep Americans informed – even if the news is not good.”
Of course, there are competing sources for crime data, not the least of which are the various police departments, which also come under scrutiny for occasionally fudging the numbers, mislabeling categories of crime – and, occasionally, simply not reporting certain crimes at all.
The most recent report from the Boston Police Commissioner indicated that “serious” crimes dropped 8 percent last year – a trend reflected in the national numbers as well, where violent crime fell 6.4 percent in the first half of last year.
The dilemma in most urban areas is that any focus on crime, be it to report “positive” news or to vow to do better next time, emphasizes to the God-fearing huddled masses that it’s still not a good idea to wander around the “bad” parts of town. Do folks truly feel better when the number of dead bodies strewn around and about drops 5.7 percent?
The most difficult aspect of the crime-data cha-cha to discuss out loud is the reality that many of the bad guys commit crimes in their own neighborhoods, or focus their unpleasantness on friends and family. The “get tough on crime” cheerleaders tend to get most vocal when minorities venture into an upper-middle-class white neighborhood.
In 2007, a particularly bloody year in Baltimore when about 300 people were murdered, 91 percent of the victims had arrest records.
Was Baltimore particularly unsafe? Depends on who your friends were.
