An Answer I’ll Never Provide to You
I know the author of this answer on Trulia Voices and he’s a really good person. He’s also a fairly knowledgeable agent. But sometimes in the quest to provide answers to those asking questions, it’s possible to lose track of what we as real estate professionals can and cannot say.
Here was a response to a question about a certain area of the Phoenix real estate market:
“In Gilbert it is not the Subdivisions, or zip codes. It`s the School district.”
As Mike Sexton World Poker Tour would say on the World Poker Tour, he’s heading for white water right here.
“If I have to pick a subdivision, anything in Stonecreek, not under the wires, Close to Freestone ) there are a few good deals in Neely ranch, off of Cooper & Elliot, and of course Val Vista Lakes was the neighborhood of the year 2007.”
He didn’t have to pick a subdivision. In fact, he’s more or less prohibited from doing so by the Fair Housing Act. The Fair Housing Act prohibits agents from steering clients to or from any particular neighborhood without specific instruction from the seller. And we still can’t do it if the sellers’ specific instructions contain any reference to protected classes.
It’s a source of endless frustration for buyers who, when told about the Fair Housing Act, start to reword their questions:
- “Is that a high crime area?” I don’t know your definition of high. Here’s a link to the crime stats and you can make your own determination.
- “Would you live there?” I’m not you so the answer, even if legal, is irrelevant.
- “Is that a good area?” Not to get Clinton-esque, but what does good mean?
It’s been argued that Active Rain is a breeding ground for anti-trust and Fair Housing Violations. Trulia Voices often goes down the exact same road, even when the author of an answer had no intention to do so.
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Jonathan, I always have a few buyers angry because I won’t give up my real estate license to give a “straight answer” to those questions I can’t.
Forget about doing it online, the evidence is irrefutable and forever and what if the “client” was doing random testing for the state licensing division.
Of course, my goal is not to have anyone standing in front of me, referring to me, as the Defendant…
I do not feel that I violated any section of the Fair Housing Act.
Your concerns have not fallen on deaf ears. A review of the F.H.A will be in order, and any changes to company policy will be made.
Thank you for your input.
I actually ran this past another couple of folks, Patrick, and all were in agreement that it’s against the Fair Housing Act to steer someone to a particular subdivision without any clear direction from the buyer.
We could be wrong but there were several eyes looking at this one. I don’t think it was your intent but it still appears to be in violation.