How often do clients ask you about whether a property is located in a good school district? Fair housing laws prohibit you from steering clients, whether toward a particular area or away from that area, based upon the buyer’s race, color, religion, gender, disability, familial status, or national origin. That means you likely avoid giving opinions on school districts, because a comment could be construed as influencing clients’ housing choice based on demographic information.
So, although you may not be able to give your clients a direct answer to their question, there are resources you can share so buyers can make an informed decision without your input. Share this consumer handout from Texas REALTOR® magazine that explains how buyers can do their own research into schools
This is ridiculous. Schools are rated, that’s what we base our information on. It has nothing to do with any of the protected classes. And if a buyer wants to misconstrue someones opinion about a school, wouldn’t they have to have proof that the agent was intentionally steering for it to even matter? If no proof is needed, that is wrong!
Completely agree with you Lindsay. This is absolutely ridiculous…
Agree. Most of my clients wanna know more about the schools from me because they trust me and needs an expert advice. I always tell them to look online for ratings but also share my feedback about the school. This article doesn’t makes sense to me.
The steering answer has nothing to do with a school or school district’s rating. However. I refrain from giving any answers regarding schools because the information could be outdated or otherwise misleading. And if a Real Estate professional gives recommendations regarding schools or school districts, they could be sued. I tell the potential buyers that if they are concerned that they should contact the school district directly. And make their decision according to the information provided.
I agree with Lindsay. There is no one that doesn’t want their child in a good school district. It isn’t steering, it’s offering public information that they can find online.
We can be the source of the source-a safe way to advise your clients-TEA has all the information your client could ever want-even demographics if that’s important to them.
I tell clients to do their research; “good” schools is VERY subjective anyway. I have had some clients say certain districts are good and from other clients heard that the same district is not good. I don’t want that liability of saying what’s good or what’s bad; after all it really depends on so many variables outside of us.
Yep Courtney. Your child could be in the best of Districts but end up in a classroom with a bad teacher. “Subjective” is definitely a good word to use.