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Ok, so agents can point out things that would be of interest to families with kids then? They just can't tell you if kids are in the neighborhood? Like they can't say "This is a great neighborhood for families since there are so many kids here" but they can say "the schools are great and there's so much for families with kids to do since there's a pool and a park?"
Would edit to: "the schools have an 8/10 rating per Niche.com and there's so much to do like enjoy a pool and a park." This provides 3rd party information / source (rather than opinion) and removes the reference to families for the park. They can draw their own conclusion if those are things they consider family friendly.
"Great schools" results in steering when it becomes a code word for race. It depends on how it is used by the real estate agent.
In a 2006 study with mystery shoppers, the white shoppers were told the Tarrytown, N.Y schools are not good and directed them towards other areas. Then when Hispanic mystery shoppers asked about where to live and find good schools, they were told "Tarrytown schools were a great option for them!" and they were not shown homes in the other school districts that were majority white. Some were actively steered away from those majority white areas when the mystery shopper pointed out higher test scores outside Tarrytown and sold on the "community aspects and friends their kids would have at Tarrytown." This is when schools move from "objective" to steering based on protected class.
The key is for an agent to focus on objective information and to provide that objective information to all borrowers equally rather than steer certain types of families to different places.
There's so much information these days online, one shouldn't have to rely on a realtor to answer some of these questions anymore. If you really want the answer, just spend a few minutes on Google and you'll be able to find some answers.
So I was just thinking, what about listings I see that say things like "Best Chapel Hill schools!" or "Highly desired Leesville School District!" Would those be violations?
That's the kind of realtor who gets a call a few years later when it's not longer Leesville Rd schools.....very very big chance to take in WCPSS but apparently some realtors like to live dangerously.
There's so much information these days online, one shouldn't have to rely on a realtor to answer some of these questions anymore. If you really want the answer, just spend a few minutes on Google and you'll be able to find some answers.
Google is great!
The USCensus is great if you want some of that information that Realtors can't disclose.
Great Schools.com and Wcpss.net are great.
Want to know if any sex offenders live in the neighborhood? There are websites for that.
Crime in the area? Websites for that too.
Walk around the neighborhood. Talk to the neighbors. They will give you the good, bad and the ugly!
Don't take this the wrong way...most Realtors WANT to help and give you their expertise and experience but sometimes y'all ask for things we can't discuss or just don't know. No, I really don't know how many dogs the neighbor has!!!
That's the kind of realtor who gets a call a few years later when it's not longer Leesville Rd schools.....very very big chance to take in WCPSS but apparently some realtors like to live dangerously.
If I were the Realtor, I'd say, "So?" Very little is 100% permanent. I don't really think that's "living dangerously." The 100 acre woodlot down the road could be developed into something that changes the traffic patterns. The county could decide to develop the storm sewer line into a greenway, turning the county or HOA owned vacant forest into a pathway that brings pedestrians within eyeshot and earshot of your deck. Wakemed could build a new hospital nearby. The county could add a water treatment plant that smells funny. School assignments change. That's true in WCPSS obviously but true plenty of other places that don't have as rapid growth as we have. Everything other than the address and the square footage of your house is speculation to some degree or another.
Don't take this the wrong way...most Realtors WANT to help and give you their expertise and experience but sometimes y'all ask for things we can't discuss or just don't know. No, I really don't know how many dogs the neighbor has!!!
You may not know, but hopefully there's nothing protecting dogs and keeping you from disclosing because that would be some useful information.
While I completely understand agents need to follow the rules, the rules are too broad. It's not wrong for someone to want to live in a neighborhood with people that are similar to themselves. A family with kids may not want to live in a neighborhood of empty-nesters - that's not discrimination, it's human nature. When relocating (especially if blindly for a job), it's extremely difficult to determine this information on your own.
I'd disagree. If one wants to live among other empty-nesters, plenty of 55+ housing/patio home developments are available.
If you want your kids to be near other kids, you can usually rest assured that things that attract you, as a parent of children, likely attract other families.
A single unattached younger person that buys a new construction SFH in Apex doesn't need a Realtor to tell him that he'll be unique in his neighborhood. A family that buys a Condominium in Cameron Village doesn't need a realtor to tell them that they may be the only young family in the building.
If I were the Realtor, I'd say, "So?" Very little is 100% permanent. .
If you're dealing with someone from another state where school assignments are all but set in cement, it's a a big deal. Is that on the buyer for not doing their due diligence? Sure. But if you're going to tout how great the schools are without also saying, You may not be familiar with the idea of school reassignments....
I deal with the general public every damn day. If you do not spell out any reasonable scenario that could occur you're going to hear back from people. Doesn't matter whose right and whose wrong, if you value your future time you nip problems before they can start. I can guarantee you the people who were told by their realtor "you'll never get reassigned from Panther Creek" when the new high school had ALREADY BEEN BUILT, dialed that realtor right up when they heard their precious was going to be shut out of extra advanced placement Calculus D because the new school didn't offer it.
The other things that you mentioned are major due diligence and maybe even disclosure issues in a fast growing area.
And I'll take the realtor who follows the letter of the law for the biggest purchase I'm going to make in my life, because people are never just willing to break laws that benefit others....they're also interested in breaking laws that benefit them. Perhaps MORE interested in that.
When we moved down here 7 yrs ago, our primary goal was to find a neighborhood full of kids that our children could grow up with. Our realtor told us he couldn’t directly tell us where the kids were but in broad strokes, the Apex/Cary areas we were looking at were considered family friendly and where lots of families were moving. After we saw the house we eventually bought, we drove away and turned the corner and saw some kids that had set up a lemonade stand. I asked him to pull over. We bought lemonade and asked the kids if there were a lot of kids in the neighborhood. We quickly learned about the pool and the swim team, etc. these kids were a few years older than mine so I asked if there were lots of people pushing strollers around with toddlers. The kids gave me the scoop. Later that night after dinner, we drove back to look at the house thinking we might make an offer. We saw a driveway with a pile of bikes. A few min later, a dad walks out with his kids. We ask him about the neighborhood and kids, etc. we learned everything we needed to know and put an offer in the next morn.
I then jokingly asked my realtor if he set up that lemonade stand? He said, no but thought that would be the most brilliant strategy to sell a house to a young family! (I was really thinking of that movie a Funny Farm. “Release the deer!”)
I think the best way to find out about the neighborhood is just to talk to the folks that live there.
And the main lemonade stand operator is now my kids’ babysitter.
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