Realtor: Confederate Flag Hurt Buyers' Interest in Arlington Home

Would you buy a house next door to someone who hung a Confederate flag? A real estate agent in Northern Virginia said potential buyers told her they wouldn't.

"People were very concerned," agent Donnan Wintermute said. "They were nervous about living next door to someone who would have the flag hanging from her front."

Wintermute said the Confederate flag appeared the day after the for-sale sign appeared. The homeowner declined to speak with News4.

Some neighbors said they also were upset to see the flag, which they described as a symbol of racist hate.

"Why would I want to live next to that?" neighbor Charles Hunt said. His stepmother owns the house that's for sale.

"The Confederate battle flag is fine in a museum and a Confederate cemetery maybe, but out here, it's a symbol of treason, and it has no place," he said. Hunt said he has ancestors who fought on both sides of the Civil War.

Other residents also said they were concerned about the flag, but they declined to speak on camera.

Hunt, who rents, said he's looking to buy a house himself but would not buy property near someone who hung a Confederate flag. 

"It gives me pause, because, if nothing else, it's a detriment to the home value," he said.

On Friday, the flag had been removed.

Wintermute said the flag doesn't belong outside the house. 

"It's just not the neighborly thing to do," she said.

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