That statement sounds innocent enough, but it reveals the potential buyers are Jewish. “Some of the language that I’ve seen are things like, ‘We want to move to this place because it’s near our synagogue,’” says Shivaughn Ferguson, director of fair housing with Housing Opportunities Made Equal of Virginia. In this scenario, the seller is in violation of fair housing laws if he or she rejects a particular offer because of the homebuyer’s race. “That could indirectly lead to the seller knowing what their race is potentially we have many neighborhoods in the Richmond area that, years ago, may have been all one race, so could say, ‘Hey, if their family lived here many, many years ago, I know back then this was an all-white or an all-Black neighborhood, so they must be this race or that race.’” “Most folks probably aren’t going to write a letter that’s going to specifically mention their membership in a protected class, but what if they say something like, ‘My parents used to live in this neighborhood many, many years ago, and … please accept my offer because I have some history in this neighborhood,’” Hayes says. In this situation, the home seller has violated fair housing laws because he or she chose not to accept an offer due to the potential buyer’s disability. “You could then have a seller who’s saying, consciously or subconsciously, ‘Oh wow, this is a person who’s disabled, and they need an accessible house, and I know that once you get into my house, there’s some steps, so this is not really going to be accessible for them, so I’m not going to accept their contract.” “They may say, ‘I love your house because I’m a vet, I have a permanent disability, and I know that this house is going to meet my needs for accessibility.’ #SO WHERE ARE YOU LOOSE ENDS RAR PROFESSIONAL#“A lot of times, people will mention that they are a veteran with a permanent disability, and they may like the house because it’s a rancher,” explains Liz Hayes, fair housing director with the Virginia Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation. Real estate agents also face penalties, including losing their license, being sued and monetary damages.īelow are some examples of how seemingly innocent love letters might lead to violations of fair housing laws: While it can be extremely difficult for a buyer to prove why their offer was rejected, home sellers can be sued and face hefty fines if they are found to have discriminated against a potential homebuyer from any of these protected classes. Virginia’s fair housing laws address discrimination against 12 protected classes: race, color, religion, national origin, sex, elderliness, familial status, disability, source of funds, sexual orientation, gender identity and military status. “ listing agents is to advise clients that … they’ll need to make their selling decision based on neutral criteria, and they need to be evaluating the contract, not the buyer,” Lafayette says. If a buyer still insists on writing a love letter, then it’s recommended that agents pass the letter on to the seller’s agent unopened and unread. “We advise our agents to discourage their buyers from engaging in the practice,” Lafayette says. #SO WHERE ARE YOU LOOSE ENDS RAR RAR#There haven’t been any complaints or lawsuits stemming from love letters locally in recent years, but the possibility of fair housing law violations is concerning enough that RAR has issued its own opinion. However, problems with love letters can arise when home sellers use the information contained within to decide which contract to accept and which to reject. Laura Lafayette, CEO of the Richmond Association of Realtors, recounts one clever couple who presented a love letter as if their cat wrote it. They usually include innocuous information like “We just love your house” or “I know our dog is going to love running around the fenced-in backyard.” In fact, the National Association of Realtors published an article last November warning realtors that “these letters can actually pose fair housing risks because they often contain personal information and reveal characteristics of the buyer, such as race, religion or familial status, which could then be used, knowingly or through unconscious bias, as an unlawful basis for a seller’s decision to accept or reject an offer.” While the content of these letters is generally harmless, in some situations they can lead to violations of state and federal fair housing laws. In a fast-paced residential real estate market where multiple offers and paying thousands over list price are the norm, some prospective homebuyers resort to writing so-called “love letters” to sellers – personal notes expressing why they want the home – in an effort to stand out from their competition.
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