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JLeslie's avatar

Do you think it is unethical for a realtor to help buyers find neighborhoods that have high numbers of Democrats or Republicans depending on your preference?

Asked by JLeslie (65714points) February 13th, 2024

Realtors have to abide by ethics rules. One of the rules drilled into you in realtor class is to follow the law to not steer clients away from or to neighborhoods based on race, religion, sexual orientation, gender, family status, national origin, disability.

Yesterday on facebook a realtor posted he could help Democrats find places to live with more Democrats. I told him I would not post that online, because it could be perceived as unethical even though it is not a protected class so to speak. The guy went crazy saying I accused him of being unethical and it is not a protected class, which I had said, but he seemed to want to teach me something new and defend himself.

Clients can do their research and then they can tell realtors what areas they want to live in. Like Jewish buyers who need to walk to temple might give a radius from the temple, but a realtor cannot say what areas are Jewish areas. Clients can look up the party affiliation on a street and rule it out for themselves if they want.

The realtor association does send “undercover shoppers” if they get a tip that a realtor is discriminating or behaving unethically in any way, and supposedly the realtor association does random checks sometimes too.

My questions for the collective are:

Do you think it is unethical to steer people based on political affiliation?

Do you think it was unethical to steer white people away from Black neighbors even before there was a law making it illegal?

Do you think it is a bad idea for a realtor to write on social media that they will help you find a home near the kind of people the client wants to live near, no matter if it is a protected class or not?

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16 Answers

ragingloli's avatar

At this point it is a safety concern:
https://newrepublic.com/post/178602/pa-man-decapitates-father-video-uprising-biden-regime

This is what they are willing to do to their own families. Imagine what they will do to you.

JLeslie's avatar

@ragingloli There will be people who say the same about Black neighborhoods or say LGBT neighborhoods are a bad influence, etc. As a buyer I myself feel nervous about possibly buying a house in a place that I see the police flags and MAGA signs, so I get it from the buyer perspective. I am talking about the ethics.

zenvelo's avatar

More than ethics, I question the constitutionality of it, It borders on infringing on freedom of speech and may be discriminatory.

LifeQuestioner's avatar

I don’t think you should ask your realtor to do this, but if she or he goes to show me a house and all the other houses in the neighborhood have Trump signs out front, I’m going to tell them we can just skip this one.

jca2's avatar

I think it’s a bad idea for a realtor to advertise on social media that they are willing to do this, but I also don’t think I would chastise them for it. Let them find out for themselves. Sometimes nothing will happen, and in that case, you’ve embroiled yourself in an argument for nothing. I tend to be very careful about what I write on social media on public posts and groups. Even if I disagree with something or am critical of it, I keep mum. I may “follow” but not comment.

ragingloli's avatar

I do not see any ethical quandaries. You are not asking a realtor to find buyers of a certain category, you are asking the realtor to filter out places you do not want to be.
Just like there is a difference between “I am looking for cars with a white paint job.” and “I only want my car to be sold to white people”.

zenvelo's avatar

So people have no problem with a realtor saying, ” you won’t like this neighborhood, people here are very conservative and don’t want any minority liberals”.

SnipSnip's avatar

Yes, particularly if you have a contract with the buyer in which an agency (fiduciary duty) is created.

RedDeerGuy1's avatar

Yes. Also most of the info one can get online. No need to ask the realtor to break the law.

Also If you are avoiding Democrat’s then generally avoid the east and west coasts, and generally avoid the mainland to avoid Republicans.

kevbo1's avatar

I think it is short-sighted but not unethical. The data is more or less public and used for all kinds of targeted marketing. In addition, it’s the realtor association’s job to police the activity. If I had a concern, I’d contact the association.

Regarding past discrimination, the realtor was the tail of the dog (source). They participated in a system that was structured by government and industry to be unethical. It looks as if the savvy realtors played the situation to their advantage and a hypothetical ethical realtor likely would have been in a position of violating the code of ethics of the National Association of Realtors.

If I had kids, I imagine ask for a good neighborhood for kids.

KNOWITALL's avatar

I have no issues with anyone living where they feel most comfortable and supported by their community. If they ask, of course.

Blackwater_Park's avatar

Realtors are not worth much IMO. They used to have access to info that was not easy for the average person to gather but not anymore. Now it’s a parasitic profession if you ask me.

janbb's avatar

@RedDeerGuy1 It’s not called the “mainland.” The coasts are not islands.

RedDeerGuy1's avatar

@janbb What do you call them then?

janbb's avatar

The coasts are the coasts but you would refer to other regions of the States by a regional name; the Midwest, the South, the Southwest, etc. Sometimes the middle states are refereed to derogatorily as the “flyover states” but I would avoid that usage.

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