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How Much Do You Really Know about Fair Housing?

By Jeanne M. Gavish

Real Estate Broker/Owner with Jeanne Gavish, Keller Williams Realty Elite Partners

July 13, 2011 09:25 AM

They say the more you know, the more you know you don't know! This was especially true for me last night as I sat through a FAIR HOUSING TRAINING seminar last night offered by the Florida West Coast Chapter of NARPM.

First of all, I am a Florida Licensed Real Estate Instructor. Secondly, I have had a real estate license for 21 years, 14 of which as a Real Estate Broker. I thought I was pretty smart regarding the ins and outs of Fair Housing.

So let's see if you are:

Have you ever seen a symbol like this of someone's faith on their business card? Violation of Fair Housing Law if they are in any business that relates to housing.

How about using "Active Adult Community" in your advertising? (Oops, somebody better tell this National Builder!) This wording is a Violation of Fair Housing Law on TWO counts! The first is Active, which is a violation against the protected class of People with Disabilities. The second is a violation against Family Status, which forbids discrimination against families with children.

But Wait? I thought "The Housing for Older Persons Act of 1995" exempted this type of community? Actually, it does. The permitted advertising words (and this includes the community sign) are

Housing for Older Persons
55+
Retirement
Senior

The Fair Housing Continuum, Inc. gave a riveting (yes, riveting) and interactive presentation on Complying with Federal, State and Local Fair Housing Laws, Setting Policies to Pass Fair Housing "Testing, and Keys to Avoicing Fair Housing Liability. Their Mission is to Ensure Equal Housing Opportunity and Eliminate Discrimination in Florida.

As a Professional Property Manager, I was very impressed by their presentation. We sometimes have problems with Homeowner's Associations who harass and intimidate Landlord Owners and their Tenants. It was explained that most of the Association Rules are defined by people who live in the community, and the attorney who represents the Association is rarely well versed in Fair Housing Law. I was relieved to know there was an ally I could call, instead of having to incur or have my Landlord Owners incur legal fees to defend their rights under the Law.

It was well worth my time and I came away with much more knowledge than I ever expected to learn.

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Comments(16)

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Wallace S. Gibson, CPM

Gibson Management Group, Ltd. - Charlottesville, VA

LandlordWhisperer

The "fish symbol" being a violation of fair housing is a stretch.....I have people "bless me" almost daily on the phone and in e-mails. Are THEY violating fair housing?

What about people who put "they speak Spanish" on their business cards?

Jul 13, 2011 02:03 PM

Jeanne M. Gavish

Jeanne Gavish, Keller Williams Realty Elite Partners - Spring Hill, FL

Keller Williams Realty Elite Partners - CIPS,GRI,S

Wallace, I appreciate your comments. Check out the credentials of the organization; I created a link. This falls under "advertising a preference" and Real Estate Business Cards are advertising that fall under the blanket of Fair Housing. I understand your point, but language isn't a protected class. Their number is fairhousing32922@bellsouth.net and I would love to hear the result of your conversation.

Jul 13, 2011 03:57 PM

Wallace S. Gibson, CPM

Gibson Management Group, Ltd. - Charlottesville, VA

LandlordWhisperer

Jeanne * 25 years ago, a fair housing agency in Oregon went after 30+ newspapers for the use of terms in their advertising - mostly for rent ROOMS in the owner's homes which are EXEMPT from fair housing laws.

My then husband was a VP with the group that owned several of the papers and they were about to pay $1500 per newspaper to this group to settle a NONfiled complaint. I got to the HUD Fair Housing office in SF, who then investigated the issue and HUD actually issued a memo * called the Achtenberg memo * that complaints will not be handled unless there is a basis and a PREfiling (extortion) agreement was not allowed.

The National Newspaper Association * during all of this * issued a chart with NONapproved words including SINGLE FAMILY RESIDENCE that could not be used in classified ads * again, NEVER BLESSED BY HUD. Those NNA charts were still in use at many smaller newspapers 10 years later.

Radio host Neal Boortz's wife actually ran into it a few years ago when renting one of their homes in Florida and I e-mailed him the back story of the newspaper chart and he OUTED it AGAIN on his radio show.

These groups get federal funding and have to gen up complaints based on their funding and promotion.

The # of fair housing complaints are actually falling nationwide so they are casting a wider net to architects and building departments.

Jul 13, 2011 11:23 PM

Michael J. Gallo

Florida Luxury Realty - New Port Richey, FL

Florida Luxury Realty - Gulf Home Sales Team

Jeanne, I was showing homes and could not make the class last night and I am so happy you posted this blog. I have always found the fish symbol to have its place and that place is not in the housing industry. I feel the same way about a rainbow symbol, star of David, or the AA Circle trinagle on advertising. It is MOST DEFINITLY promoting to a specific group wheather they be protected or not. and now I have my blog topic for today....thank YOU.

Jul 14, 2011 02:47 AM

Maygan Smith

Dennis Realty & Property Management, Spring Hill, FL - Spring Hill, FL

Jeanne,

I would have to agree with you on this one, considering I attended this seminar. According to the speaker, the fish is in fact a violation of the fair housing laws. While it may not be intended to attract or turn certain people away, it is just always better to leave religion out of it. You never know who you might offend. It's just like "not" sending "Merry Christmas" cards to your whole database. It is also a violation to have real estate advertising on the side of your car, for example with a Jesus fish on your license plate. Would this be the same for the bottom signature of your emails?

Thanks for sharing the post!

Jul 14, 2011 05:07 AM

Jeanne M. Gavish

Jeanne Gavish, Keller Williams Realty Elite Partners - Spring Hill, FL

Keller Williams Realty Elite Partners - CIPS,GRI,S

Wallace, I have heard of that, also. I have a student in my Real Estate class who used to work in the classified section of the St. Petersburg Times, and he told me how they were held responsible, as well as the violator, which is why they are so stringent. The speaker confirmed that. By publishing, they are also liable.

Mike, Thanks for your input. I knew this was a touchy subject, and our discussion was lively in the seminar also.

Maygan, I didn't want to touch the "Merry Christmas" part that he discussed in this blog.

Jul 14, 2011 06:19 AM

Wallace S. Gibson, CPM

Gibson Management Group, Ltd. - Charlottesville, VA

LandlordWhisperer

Jeanne * You make my point. The newspaper list was BOGUS * the classified ad guidelines were BOGUS. HUD did not approve the list of NONapproved terms and the fair housing groups in Oregon caused havoc by their actions. The NNA list lived LONG after the situation was resolved to the detriment of many real estate professionals.

My point is that before someone tells someone not to have a fish symbol/Star of David/minorah on their business card, they need to make sure this is an actual HUD guideline and not something that sounds good to a fair housing agency.

Jul 14, 2011 02:57 PM

Jeanne M. Gavish

Jeanne Gavish, Keller Williams Realty Elite Partners - Spring Hill, FL

Keller Williams Realty Elite Partners - CIPS,GRI,S

I got the powerpoint from the presentation in my email today Wallace. I will email it you with the law and the interpretation. Again, feel free to email them with questions.

Jul 14, 2011 03:10 PM

Rebecca Gaujot, Realtor®

Lewisburg, WV

Lewisburg WV, the go to agent for all real estate

Jeanne, as always I learned something new on AR today.Thanks for the information!

Jul 14, 2011 05:32 PM

Jeanne M. Gavish

Jeanne Gavish, Keller Williams Realty Elite Partners - Spring Hill, FL

Keller Williams Realty Elite Partners - CIPS,GRI,S

Rebecca, thanks for taking the time to read my post. I certainly learned a lot in the seminar.

Jul 15, 2011 12:47 AM

Wayne Johnson

Coldwell Banker D'Ann Harper REALTORS® - San Antonio, TX

San Antonio REALTOR, San Antonio Homes For Sale

Jeanne-Thanks for sharing your experience. The comments have been instructive too.

Jul 15, 2011 02:23 AM

Jeanne M. Gavish

Jeanne Gavish, Keller Williams Realty Elite Partners - Spring Hill, FL

Keller Williams Realty Elite Partners - CIPS,GRI,S

Thanks Wayne. I found the presentation very enlightening and the speaker, who is the Executive Director of this HUD funded Non Profit organization to be very well informed and the time just flew by.

Jul 15, 2011 04:17 AM

Ron Marshall

Marshall Enterprises - Saint Michael, MN

Birdhouse Builder Extraordinaire

Well, I certainly learned a lot today, thanks to you, Jeanne. I think I am fairly certain I am glad not to be a realtor these days.

Jul 15, 2011 09:26 AM

Jeanne M. Gavish

Jeanne Gavish, Keller Williams Realty Elite Partners - Spring Hill, FL

Keller Williams Realty Elite Partners - CIPS,GRI,S

Ron, as they said in Hill Street Blues, "Be Careful, It's a jungle out there!"

Jul 15, 2011 12:49 PM

Silvia Dukes PA, Broker Associate, CRS, CIPS, SRES

Tropic Shores Realty - Ich spreche Deutsch! - Spring Hill, FL

Florida Waterfront and Country Club Living

Hi Jeanne, as always an interesting topic. Would 55+ communities which refer to themselves as "active adult communities" be exempt from these rules and could we refer to them as such? Btw... one could argue that there are a whole lot of people with disabilities who could be considered a lot more active than most non-disabled but maybe that's splitting hairs now. :-)

Jul 21, 2011 02:16 PM

Jeanne M. Gavish

Jeanne Gavish, Keller Williams Realty Elite Partners - Spring Hill, FL

Keller Williams Realty Elite Partners - CIPS,GRI,S

Sally, How kind of you to take the time to write to support my blog. One of the greatest aspects of Active Rain is being able to express your opinions and have lively dialogue.

Silvia, Not according to this "tester". The speaker was very clear that it was a violation on two counts of Fair Housing, and I agree with you on the Active part!

Jul 21, 2011 03:27 PM