Real Estate News

Love Letters or Liability Letters?

Title VIII of the Civil Rights Act of 1968 is commonly referred to as the Fair Housing Act of 1968. Since 1968 its protections have been expanded significantly by amendment. Under current, updated law, the  Fair Housing Act prohibits this discrimination because of race, color, national origin, religion, sex, familial status, and disability.

Writing a letter to seller to express enjoyment of home including any of this information "violates" fair housing laws.

Sponsored: Pre-emptive purchase offers could lead to Fair Housing Act questions:  

Careless seller representation is a leading cause of post-sale litigation. "An acceptance of a pre-emptive offer could easily be a setting for a Fair Housing violation. For example, the sellers and their seller’s agent are Caucasians. Their house sells after receiving a pre-emptive offer on Wednesday. The buyers are a childless white couple. However, over the previous five days, the seller’s agent had told families of color, a gay couple, a disabled person and a single mother wearing a hijab, “No offers until Friday at 4 p.m.”

Guest column: Local Realtors embrace fair housing efforts: 

"In one case just a few weeks ago, an agent in my office was helping a Black buyer find a home to purchase when she got repeated calls from a seller’s agent asking if the buyer really had the money to buy and what he did for a living. The insinuation was clearly that the seller’s agent suspected the buyer might be earning money illegally. Even after we sent proof of funds and a letter of qualification from the buyers’ lender, the questions kept coming — and the other agent started asking the lender the same questions."

In another case, involving a friend of mine in the San Fernando Valley a couple of years ago — pre-COVID — the discrimination was even more shocking. My friend, a Black agent, accompanied a white couple to inspect a home for sale, but when they got there the owner said the prospective buyers could come in, but the agent could not. The couple, to their credit, said if she can’t come in, we aren’t going to either. But when my friend contacted the seller’s agent, he stood up for his client and refused to educate them about what the law requires.

Update 5-10-2021:  Family photos, handwritten notes: Buying a home in area's real estate market is tough - Violation of Fair Housing Laws?

Update 5-20-2021:  Home buyers should think twice before sending a 'pick me' letter to the seller

Update 5-22-2021:  Buyers resort to 'sympathy' letters in competitive housing market

Update 5-28-2021:  'Love letters' among popular real estate tools for hungry house buyers