The house hunt begins
This week, we visited with a realtor to start the process of finding the house we want to buy in Bloomington-Normal. We looked at one prospective house, but the lightning of love didn't strike.
Andrew brought something to my attention that hadn't struck me so clearly: segregation in this city is encouraged by real estate salespeople. White folks are not even shown homes on the west side of Bloomington. We weren't either. There are plenty of houses within our stated price range just west of downtown Bloomington and IWU, I'm sure, but I was reminded of a conversation with a friend (a new homeowner) who told us she was actively dissuaded from looking there when she asked.
I laughed at the joke the realtor told about the "ghetto Kroger," the grocery store nearest IWU, because I thought it was a reference to the shabby state of the building, but keeping the above paragraph in mind, it may also be a reference to the blackness of the neighborhood immediately to the west of it. Not quite as funny now.
Andrew brought something to my attention that hadn't struck me so clearly: segregation in this city is encouraged by real estate salespeople. White folks are not even shown homes on the west side of Bloomington. We weren't either. There are plenty of houses within our stated price range just west of downtown Bloomington and IWU, I'm sure, but I was reminded of a conversation with a friend (a new homeowner) who told us she was actively dissuaded from looking there when she asked.
I laughed at the joke the realtor told about the "ghetto Kroger," the grocery store nearest IWU, because I thought it was a reference to the shabby state of the building, but keeping the above paragraph in mind, it may also be a reference to the blackness of the neighborhood immediately to the west of it. Not quite as funny now.