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Real Estate Brokers are subject to the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act’s (CADA’s) prohibitions on housing discrimination. One way that a real estate broker might end up discriminating against someone, but may not be very obvious is called “steering,” which is both an unethical and illegal practice.
What is Steering?
Steering occurs when a purchaser or client is “steered” or “guided” to a particular neighborhood or community, not because of their stated preferences, but because of their membership in a protected class. A real estate broker should not attempt to influence a buyer’s choice to live in a particular community based upon a protected class. It can occur in a somewhat innocent way, such as just making subtle comments about a community in a negative or positive manner.
What are the Protected Classes?
- Race,
- Color,
- Religion,
- Creed,
- National Origin/Ancestry,
- Sex,
- Disability/Handicap,
- Sexual Orientation (including Transgender Status),
- Marital Status, and
- Familial Status (children under the age of 18 in the household).
Tips to Avoid Steering
What are some tips that can help you as a real estate broker to avoid the trap of an allegation of “steering?”
- Always be objective when providing information. Providing subjective and opinionated information can be taken the wrong way and get you into trouble. If there are 3rd party information and resources available concerning the community, such as from the city, school district, police department, or census bureau, provide that information to the buyer or refer them to those official local entities.
- Provide the customer with a number of choices, however, always let the customer make their own choices.
- Do not be afraid to turn away questions from customers. Some buyers may be persistent to get you to provide information that will result in “steering,” however, avoid the trap and let them know you cannot provide the requested information, but there are resources available for them to get objective information about a community.
Some of those questions that you might be asked are:
- So how are the schools in this neighborhood?
- What’s the makeup of this neighborhood?
- Is this a safe community?
- Is this a family-friendly neighborhood?
Trying to answer these questions may just be asking for trouble. Direct potential buyers to research this information.
Be careful with your advertising as well. Your choice of wording in advertising a property is just as important to check as spoken words to a customer. Make sure that you are not using any exclusionary terms, and when describing the property and community – only stick to the facts.
Learn More
Learn about Colorado’s fair housing laws and the discrimination complaint process from the Colorado Civil Rights Division.
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