Recently, there was a question posted on Trulia.com where the poster asked about the safety of a certain neighborhood. Typically 
a post will generate several replies by REALTORS. This one?
<<crickets chirping>>
One brave soul, named Joe the Builder ventured a reply as to his opinion on the safety of the neighborhood, and then questioned why REALTORS didn't rush to answer. It engendered a great discussion (and slight thread hi-jack) between us, and you can read about it here.
Here's the thing...REALTORS are bound to uphold the Fair Housing Laws, and one of those has to do with something called steering. Steering is when a REALTOR will try to guide someone to a neighborhood, school district, area, price range, etc, based on their own personal opinions. It can range to overt discrimination (only showing a Russian Buyer homes in an area with a large Russian population) to more subtle "opinion" based steering (encouraging a Buyer to buy in one school district over another).
Because of Fair Housing Laws, REALTORS are not supposed to give an opinion on the quality of neighborhoods, school districts, or areas. Now, I've got an opinion, all right. Trust me - I always have an opinion! But, I'm not allowed to spout those opinions off to you as they relate to "better" neighborhoods, school districts, etc. The best I can do is point you in the direction to find the information you need: police stations, websites, data sources, etc.
It's important for you to realize that no matter how much you trust your REALTOR, and how much we WANT to tell you what we think, we just CAN'T, and that's a limitation that may be frustrating for all involved, but ultimately serves the higher good.
For more information on Fair Housing Laws, click here.
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Isn't it crazy that we cant tell someone this information and we have to leave them to discover it after they have bought a home. Where is the due diligence in that?
Heather,
Now I am very confused. Why is that we can't give an opinion about a neighborhood? We can't do it only if this involves steering, which is"...the illegal funneling of home buyers to a particular area based on the desire to keep the makeup of that neighborhood the same or intentionally change it."
Good or not good schools has nothing to do with protected classes, which are:
Why is then it is steering? Am I missing something here?
Jon, all I've ever heard from my brokerage and our local training is that we are NOT to give our personal opinion on the quality of a neighborhood, school system, etc. It looks like this article from realty times substantiates that giving unsubstantiated personal opinions puts us at risk of violating Fair Housing Laws:
Real Estate Attorney Weighs In On Steering And Schools Controversy
Here's another article from Realtor.org
6 Ways to Avoid Illegal Steering
What do you think?
Heather,
When I first read your blog post, I got really scared. Because this is exactly what we do, and we pride ourselves with doing that.
Now, after reading the articles, I feel better. I appreciated your blog as it made us look at it again, but no, we are OK.
When people call me and say they are coming to town and they want to start looking for homes, the first question is whether they have school age kids, and what are the ages. We just plain and simple say that these schools are rated higher. We use the factual data on A, B, or C rating. It is not our opinion, as I do not have school-age children and even my grandson will be out of school next year.
But when they call, I do not know their race, or anything of what is covered by protected class. Yes, it is a reminder to not step in the wrong direction, but I myself have no clue about the religious composition or representation in the neighborhood.
We do not engage in any discussion of race or national origin.
But if we have to shut up and not tell people where good schools are, why anyone needs us.
Heather, a big problem now is not what we can't do, but the big agencies thinking only about CYA forst and foremost.
This is the sad truth, but if you start checking policies that they demand you follow, you will see that these policies have the agency interests at heart first and foremost. In part it is unavoidable, as the bigger the company, the looser the ends and to keeps the ends together the only way is by making the operations more limited.
And this is the example of that.
That is one of the reasons I am on my own.
Hi Heather,
I have followed this blog and the idea from a question we both responded to on trulia. I must say you provided very good data. I gave my best shot and you went above and beyond to educate the public on what we can and can't say about area. You are truthful on what you may think is safe may not apply to what someone else thinks is safe. There are parts of Philadelphia I wouldn't show homes in but know plenty of other agents that would have no problem and no the city very well. Great Job!
Heather,
And one small thing here. You use the term Realtors, but Fair Houseing Laws are not just for Realtors, they apply in similar fashion to any real estate professinal, whether members of NAR or not. Unless, of couse, you use the term in a broader sense.