"Walking distance to..." is a Fair Housing Act Violation. Words to avoid when advertising house for rent/for sale.
Pacita has done everyone a great service in reminding us to remember the Fair Housing ACt as it relates to our everyday advertising - having little reminders and refreshers can keep us on track so we don't make mistakes later on that we will live to regret!
When advertising your listing ---- what words should you stay away from?
In a recent post on Active Rain, I noticed that the agent advertised the listing as “Walking distance to...”
It reminded me of certain rules in our MLS about certain words we should avoid.
Even Craigslist is very specific about their terms of use, their rules -- follow them or get flagged and have your post deleted, to wit:CONDUCT You agree not to post, email, or otherwise make available Content:
d) that violates the Fair Housing Act by stating, in any notice or ad for
the sale or rental of any dwelling, a discriminatory preference based on
race, color, national origin, religion, sex, familial status or handicap
(or violates any state or local law prohibiting discrimination on the
basis of these or other characteristics);
Our local MLS is very strict about observing these rules. It helps to have transaction coordinators and assistant to keep us straight. As such, we as agents have to be very creative when describing properties and their marketable features in our advertising materials --- on the MLS, in print, online, etc.Here's FAIR HOUSING ADVERTISING MANUAL www.fairhousingadvocates.com/advertising.pdf
Searching for examples, I found:
- Equal Housing Opportunity Fair Housing Advertising Guidelines HERE
- SEE Housing /Rental Ads - Watch List(W) Walk to...or walking distance to....(Close To, or (X) Blocks From)
- And Miami Valley (Ohio) Fair Housing Center provided an advertising guideline -- Click HERE
So we err on the side of caution.
- Instead of saying “walking distance” say “near” or “close to” or even state measurable distance like “a hundred yards” or “quarter of a mile”
- We don’t say “family” but refer to them as “households”. For example, we can lavish praise on a home, but never refer to it as a home for a “family”
- Even “in-law” units are described as “au pair” quarters
- We don’t mention children or parents …. but we work around that by mentioning “playgrounds” or play areas
- We don’t mention that a property is in a specific school district (we mention the city, but not the school). Although we can mention a home is NEAR a certain school, we don’t say it’s IN that specific school boundary. To play safe, simply enter “Call School District”
P.S. I did what I thought was right by commenting on the poster's blog about what our own MLS rules prevent us from saying in our listings. My comment was immediately deleted by the poster. Must have been something I said. Oh well...
There must be other examples of what to avoid and how to get around them. If so, please share :)When advertising your listing ---- what words should you stay away from?
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