I had to complete some of my continuing education today. As part of my ethics requirement, I attended my bi-annual Professional Standards Training.
Usually, these courses are a revisiting of a lot of stuff that I already know, and a bit of a four-hour snooze fest. But there was a section that interviewed agents nationwide, about discrimination and redlining, three of whom were right here in Illinois.
I was really struck by this one female agent... let's call her Joanne. Joanne was telling the story of her buyer clients, a young couple who were excited to find their first home, and just delightful. As part of their computerized search they located a home that checked-off all of their boxes, and asked Joanne to make an appointment to view the property. Joanne set it up right away for the same afternoon.
She met them at the house and told them that access was being provided by the homeowner... and we're just supposed to knock on the front door... so they did just that.
The homeowner opened the door, smiled and pointed at the young couple and said "You can come right in." Then pointing at Joanne, said "You, cannot!" You see, Joanne had the audacity to show up black. Her buyers were white.
Her buyers were mortified, and turned to her. Joanne offered to wait outside while they looked at the home, but her clients were so angered, that they said they would not be purchasing the house from this bigot, and together the three of them left.
Now, before you suggest that this doesn't happen anymore, these days.... this happened in June 2020 ... not in Alabama, or Mississippi, but right here in greater Chicago, and not even a year ago.
Everyone at today's class was truly aghast. There were other agents interviewed who had similar stories of discrimination while being "ethnic" whilst Realtoring. We need to do better.
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