[goldenband]

Here's a quote from a copy of the regulations, which may not be entirely up to date:

“Steering” means to restrict or attempt to restrict, because of race, creed, religion, color, national origin, ancestry, sex, familial status, marital status, age, sexual orientation, lawful source of income, learning disability, mental retardation or physical or mental disability, including but not limited to blindness or deafness, the choices of a person by word or conduct in connection with seeking, negotiating for, buying or renting a dwelling so as to perpetuate, or tend to perpetuate, segregated housing patterns, or to discourage or obstruct choices in a community, neighborhood or development.

I don't think it could be any more clear, really. If an individual wants to seek out an area where a particular demographic is present or absent, they have to do it on their own. Talking about the good or bad quality of a "neighborhood" is a known euphemism for its racial makeup, and was a means through which real estate agents steered white clients away from minority neighborhoods, and helped to enforce de facto segregation.

HeadedWest, how would you suggest the state proceed, so that on the one hand real estate agents are permitted to be "frank", but on the other hand things like blockbusting and Gentleman's Agreement scenarios are prevented?

[goldenband]

One example of the hot water that an agency can get into: here's a press release about a real estate company that got sued for telling white clients that a particular area had "bad schools", while saying nothing of the sort to its black and Latino cllents.

[HeadedWest]

Originally Posted by goldenband

HeadedWest, how would you suggest the state proceed, so that on the one hand real estate agents are permitted to be "frank", but on the other hand things like blockbusting and Gentleman's Agreement scenarios are prevented?

Just give me the damn master key and I'll go look at the houses on my own. If you won't answer serious questions, of what use are you?

[goldenband]

That's not actually an answer to my question, though. What do you think CT state policy SHOULD be? Should agencies be prevented from steering, and if so, how -- or, for that matter, is steering a-OK with you?

(BTW I am not a real estate agent, nor anything like one, in case there's any confusion.)

[Rich Lee]

Originally Posted by HeadedWest

Just give me the damn master key and I'll go look at the houses on my own. If you won't answer serious questions, of what use are you?

It's not a matter of won't, but can't, which has been mentioned several times. If the general public has a problem with this, they can certainly voice it with their legislators.

Now, as for what buyer agents do, here are a few things:

1) We let buyers in to see the properties (as you mentioned). We are entrusted by sellers that we will make sure that nothing gets vandalized, stolen, etc. We also leave the premises the way they were before our visit.

2) We provide buyers with CMA's and other data so that they have the most current information on what is happening in the market when making their offer.

3) We remind buyers of important dates in their contract (inspection, mortgage commitment) and prepare extensions when needed.

4) We do tell them about geographical information on a town or area (highway access, census data in a macro sense, etc.).

What we don't do:

1) We don't tell buyers which town(s) from their list would be the best one for them.

2) We don't tell buyers how much a property will appreciate in the future.

3) We don't give an opinion on the schools though we can provide web sites that give ranking information.

4) We don't promise or guarantee that an area is "safe."

5) We don't alert them to churches or correctional institutions. If the faith of a particular buyer requires him/her to walk to worship on certain holidays, we ask them to provide the address of the church/temple/mosque and an acceptable walking distance. We then find the streets that would satisfy the criteria. Once we know the streets, we then can search for available properties.

6) We don't advise on property (structural) condition or whether an inspection should be waived.

7) We don't comment on which segment of the population might live in a certain part of town.

8) We don't comment on why prices are lower (or higher) in a certain part of town except to state that that is the historical trend.