NeighborhoodScout? A slippery slope, this appears to be

NeighborhoodScout?  A slippery slope, this appears to be

NeighborhoodScout?  A slippery slope, this appears to be

Florida Realtors does a pretty good job overall in providing us with a Florida Realtors News email every day.  First, the thing's free- and anything we're able to learn from it is a bonus, right?  Second, there usually is a good bit of interesting and helpful information to be found.  Topics might include foreclosure statistics or market trends from around the state and nationally- and they also offer a bit of technology information from time to time.

I believe they missed the mark recently, though- in presenting an Inman News piece on an app called NeighborhoodScout.

http://www.inman.com/2014/06/05/neighborhoodscout

I don't have anything against the NeighborhoodScout folks, mind you- nor do I wish anyone would ban their app or anything like that.  On the contrary- I've spent some time on their website checking out their searches and things, and it seems like an app that a lot of folks could find useful.  It's a bit different from most apps, though- as we've come to believe apps are mostly free and this one costs a bit of money.

No, my issue with NeighborhoodScout, Blockshopper and other apps/sites like them isn't so much an issue with them at all- but one of concern over how they may be used.  My issue is that I have concerns over how a Realtor, sales agent or property manager might recommend them- and in some cases why they might do so.

I'm all for being the "source of the source" and telling everyone about a bunch of places to go for information if they seek it and seek guidance from me.  I'm not, however, a fan of turning clients or potential clients onto any forms of technology that could lead to discrimination charges of any sort.

For those choosing to recommend NeighborhoodScout, it would have to be recommended to every single client they have- lest the "Why did they tell me to check out this app with all the racial information on it?" pop into their heads.

A slippery slope indeed.

And judging from the many complaints from the general public about BlockShopper (http://www.consumeraffairs.com/online/blockshopper.html), do you want to risk alienating your client base should NeighborhoodScout lead folks down a similar path?

NeighborhoodScout?  A slippery slope, this appears to be