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Las Vegas MLS promotes Fair Housing compliance

By
Real Estate Agent with Keller Williams Realty The Marketplace NV License # 56750

The Greater Las Vegas Association of REALTORS® will soon be rolling out a system to check the Directions, Remarks, and Agent-to-Agent Remarks fields in MLS listings for words that may trigger Fair Housing violations. Designed to protect both brokers and agents, the system will not allow a listing to be entered that contains Prohibited words. It will also highight potential Warning words so they can be changed.

Fair Housing logoThe list of Prohibited words includes:

  • active
  • adult community
  • board approval required
  • couple
  • empty nesters
  • preferred community
  • senior discount
  • traditional neighborhood

The list of Warning words includes:

  • 55 and older, 62 and older
  • close to
  • desirable neighborhood
  • exclusive
  • executive
  • handyman's dream
  • ideal for, perfect for
  • private
  • safe neighborhood
  • secluded
  • secure
  • tranquil setting

While we should all be aware of the protected classes (race, color, national origin, religion, sex, familial status, handicap) under Fair Housing Law, some of the words on these lists surprised me. If you write or are responsible for approving real estate advertising, please keep these lists handy. Further info on Fair Housing is available at FairHousingLaw.org.

Jim Little
Ken Meade Realty - Sun City, AZ
Your Sun City Arizona Realtor
How will they deal with the federal protection for age-restricted housing? Do you have to leave that out? I know you have a lot of age qualified communitys just like we do, I will be interested in seeing how they deal with that. Must be a California idea.
Jun 01, 2007 05:31 PM
Laura Monroe
Inman News - San Francisco, CA
Dir. of Industry Engagement & Social Media
We received something similar from our title company newsletter about some pretty iffy terminology that surprised me as well. "Custom" was one them, which surprised me. Its good to know though, I write this stuff all the time. Thanks for posting in our group.
Jun 01, 2007 05:36 PM
John Summers
Keller Williams - Beaumont, CA
This is the first I've heard of it.  I live in a "55 and over" community in Southern California, Riverside County, and do quite a bit of my business here.  It will be very interesting to see what happens with this.
Jun 01, 2007 05:37 PM
John Novak
Keller Williams Realty The Marketplace - Las Vegas, NV
Henderson, Las Vegas and Summerlin Real Estate

Jim - I don't see "age-restricted" on either list. I think what they're trying to avoid is specific ages (55 or 62), as well as categories (adult, senior).

Laura - It seems that most of the words on the list are attributes of people. "Custom" only describes the house. What do they suggest that you use instead?

John - The standard term here is "age-restricted." A common rule is one resident must be 55 or older and there can be no children under the age of 18. I'll have to check and see what words our developers are marketing these communities.

Jun 01, 2007 06:33 PM
Chris Griffith
Downing-Frye Realty, Bonita Springs, FL - Bonita Springs, FL
Bonita Springs Listing Specialist - Agent
I'm just curious, how will you be able to market a home in a community that only allows residents that are age 55+ if you aren't allowed to state so?
Jun 01, 2007 11:36 PM
John Novak
Keller Williams Realty The Marketplace - Las Vegas, NV
Henderson, Las Vegas and Summerlin Real Estate
Chris - "Age-restricted" is OK for us to use. I checked the website for Del Webb, and it says they are "one of the country's leading builders of active adult communities." I'm sure once the system goes live we'll have a few questions for clarification.
Jun 02, 2007 02:51 AM
Laura Monroe
Inman News - San Francisco, CA
Dir. of Industry Engagement & Social Media
John~ there wasn't any info on an alternative term, it was coined a "red flag term"
Jun 02, 2007 09:20 AM
Derek and Mariana Wagner
The Artisan Group- Keller Williams Premier Realty - Colorado Springs, CO
The Artisan Group - Colorado Springs REALTORS®
We have a system in place for this, with our local MLS. I like it ... a lot of accountability.
Jun 02, 2007 04:56 PM
Colleen Irwin
Retired - Irondequoit, NY
Creative Real Estate Solutions...
John -- Great Information!
Jun 03, 2007 03:00 AM
Jason Rose
123 ConEd LLC -- Michigan real estate continuing education - Farmington Hills, MI
www.123ConEd.com

Good morning, John. Great posting! Real estate professionals everywhere seem to often forget some of the basic tenets of the various fair housing laws. It's good to see a post like yours that reminds everyone of their obligations, especially in advertising.

Feb 11, 2009 12:24 AM