Let’s say you’re in the market to buy a house, so you and your husband or wife are sitting comfortably in your favorite Realtor’s car, driving around on a pleasant Saturday morning looking at prospective homes for sale. You turn down a pleasant tree-lined street and pass friendly, waving neighbors, and your mind naturally turns to a question. You ask you Realtor, “By the way, does this neighborhood have good schools?
But before the Realtor can respond, a loud buzzer goes off, like you may hear on a game show, drowning out their response.
“Well what kind of people live here?”
“BZZZZZZZZ!” The buzzer goes off again.
“Can you at least tell me if it’s a safe neighborhood?”
“BZZZZ BZZZZZ BZZZZZ!”
Of course your Realtor doesn’t have a loud buzzer that’s shooting down your questions, but in real life, that is how the Realtor is SUPPOSED to be censoring themselves – refraining from answering certain questions or even discussing certain information. In fact, there are very strict rules what a Realtor can and can’t disclose or discuss, and even mentioning certain topics or answering those questions could cause see them fined, lose their professional license – or even land them in court facing a big lawsuit.
Whether working with buyers or for sellers, providing information about a neighborhood or community might violate the Fair Housing Act, which was enacted in 1968 to curb widespread discriminatory practices.
Hopefully all of our real estate professional friends know this, but here’s a refresher: The Fair Housing Act is a law that protects against discrimination in housing based on race, color, national origin, religion, sex, disability or even family status. As it applies to real estate, The Fair Housing Act keeps Realtors from “steering” prospective homebuyers (or renters) toward or away from a community based on any of the classes under federal protection. It even applies to how they can advertise when they list your home to ensure that they don’t turn away people of certain groups.
So what kinds of information are off-limits for Realtors to discuss with clients?
Household income:
A Realtor CAN’T talk about the relative wealth or economic class of a neighborhood or part of town.
Schools:
Believe it or not, Realtors CAN’T even give ratings or statistics on schools.
Religion:
A Realtor CAN’T talk about the presence of any religious groups or demographics of worshippers in any neighborhood or area.
Crime statistics:
Nope! The Fair Housing Act even prevents a Realtor from disclosing crime statistics about a part of town.
Environmental concerns:
Realtors are also prohibited from mentioning possible environmental issues like cancer scares around certain cell phone towers, bad water quality, etc.
The exception to these laws (The Fair Housing Act is not just a set of rules or guidelines, but federal law!) is that a Realtor can (and should) disclose information that pertains to a specific property, i.e. if a house is in a flood plain, a murder occurred at a property, etc.
So take note that Realtors have to be very tight-lipped when answering questions about neighborhoods or making recommendations, even if clients ask them direct questions.
Here are some common questions that may seem like common sense and well-intentioned inquiries that have nothing to do with housing discrimination that are no-no’s, none-the-less:
“This neighborhood is great for young families.”
“This neighborhood wouldn’t work for you. Too many [insert group] people live here.”
“The seller would like a nice family to put roots down here.”
“That’s a pretty high-crime neighborhood.”
“To get to the house, turn left on Pine Street. If you pass the church you’ve gone too far.”
“This house might be a little much for a single woman to handle.”
“Since you’re in a wheelchair you won’t want the second-floor unit. I can show you the ground-level unit instead.”
Or even advertising a listing or rental as “No pets,” and/or “No kids,” “Perfect for a young couple,” “Looking for quiet older renters,” etc.
If a client, homeowner, buyer, seller, prospective tenant or any other party involved complains that you’ve violated the Fair Housing Act, you could end up in serious hot water, paying the victim compensation, damages (including housings costs), civil penalties to the government, and even attorney fees and court costs.
So what CAN a Realtor say? And if you’re a homebuyer who just wants some honest and lawful information to ensure you make a good purchase, what can you do?
Real estate professionals are perfectly qualified to provide non-biased SOURCES of information, TOOLS, and EDUCATION that empower clients to buy or sell the right home for them.
So if you ask your Realtor about how the schools are around the house you’re interested in, it’s perfectly alright for them to give you or tell you about pamphlets, websites, guides, and other resources from the city, school, independent third parties, and even title companies and other entities that may be parties to the buying or selling transaction.
Basically, you can give them enough information for them to investigate and answer their questions themselves, you just can’t talk about this information, yourself.
Home buyers, sellers, and shoppers would be best served understanding these Fair Housing laws and working with their Realtor to remain in compliance – and not cross the line. So when describing the ideal home or neighborhood to your Realtor, don’t use demographics based on economics, crime rates, or of course race, sex, religion, or disabilities.
If you have any more questions or want great websites, sources of information, tools, and education about any neighborhood, feel free to contact us. We’ll make sure you have ACCESS to that information the right way, while adhering to the letter of the Fair Housing Laws and respecting their intent.
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By the way, did you know that April is Fair Housing month? You can download a free “Fair Housing Focus” publication, produced by the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®.