How Cleveland Heights got point of sale inspection

Last November, many Cleveland Heights homeowners found in their mailboxes a 6-by-11-inch postcard declaring, "POINT OF SALE REQUIREMENTS POSE THREATS TO THE AMERICAN DREAM." For the two of us, receiving that mailing, funded by Akron Cleveland Association of Realtors (ACAR), was like reliving a bad dream.

Next month we will discuss ACAR's efforts to mislead a new generation of would-be home buyers and sellers, and how Cleveland Heights and neighboring communities can resist. For now, we will address how and why, 50 years ago, Cleveland Heights instituted point of sale inspection (POS).

It's easy to assume that things have always been the way they are now—or even that they used to be better. In the early 1960s Cleveland Heights residents were, in certain ways, diverse: Protestant, Catholic and Jewish, and ranging economically from working class to wealthy. But they were almost exclusively white. Things were changing rapidly, however, as blockbusting by opportunistic realtors turned neighborhoods in some adjacent cities from white to predominantly Black almost overnight.

Cleveland Heights was not immune. According to longtime fair housing advocate and attorney Kermit Lind, by the late 1960s, the city had begun to experience white flight. Some homeowners believed that new Black neighbors threatened their property values. Having decided to move, they deferred maintenance or made only cosmetic repairs.

A decade later, Cleveland Heights and its formerly conservative, hands-off government had been transformed by demographic change and community action. The city we know now, home to roughly equal numbers of Black and white residents, came about through the efforts of activists who pushed City Hall to proactively support housing justice and racial integration rather than passively allowing resegregation.

In 1976, led by then-law director Don Barkley with support from Heights Citizens for Human Rights, Heights Community Congress and other grassroots groups, the city adopted a housing code and enforcement mechanisms, including interior and exterior POS inspections. These remain in effect today.

Shaker Heights also introduced POS in 1976. As other cities saw how well the practice worked they, too, adopted it. According to ACAR, 27 of 59 Cuyahoga County cities currently require some form of POS.

POS programs have two objectives: preserving housing stock and protecting home buyers from expensive surprises. In Resisting Segregation: Cleveland Heights Activists Shape Their Community, 1964-1976, author Susan Kaeser recounts that, prior to 1976:        

"New homeowners in Cleveland Heights were especially vulnerable. The City's lack of inspection requirements meant the seller could cover up repair problems and pass them on to unsuspecting buyers, many of whom did not plan for these expenses."

Under POS, a title transfer cannot occur until the property has been inspected, and either buyer or seller has assumed responsibility for fixing any code violations. A buyer can negotiate a lower price in exchange for taking on repairs.

While individual realtors may genuinely care about the communities in which they live and work, they have an undeniable financial interest in selling a high volume of houses as quickly as possible. POS tends to slow down sales completion, decelerating the rate at which homes turn over, so its pretty obvious why realtors have long detested it.

After decades of being sued for racial steering, blockbusting and other crimes, the real estate industry has behaved better. But housing codes have been enforced less rigorously over the years, especially since the 2008–12 mortgage crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic. Realtors, seeing an opening, are coming for point of sale inspections. Those postcards are just their first step.

Note: Cleveland Heights City Council’s Housing and Building Committee heard arguments against POS on Jan. 28. They will hear the case for it on Feb. 11.