With Terry Story, 26-year veteran Real Estate Agent with Coldwell Banker in Boca Raton, FL
A real estate agent is a good source of information for the home seeker, but it’s important to know where the line is drawn. Terry Story says there are certain loaded questions that you should avoid asking and that any savvy agent will avoid answering.
Buyers will always want to know about the quality of the neighborhood: Is it good, is it safe, and what kind of people are on the block—questions that would require an answer that may violate discrimination laws. The agent also has to be on guard for “testers”, those people who are fishing around for infractions in this area that could jeopardize an agent’s career. Terry advises that many of these questions, such as the crime rate of an area, can be found easily on the internet.
Another issue of discrimination that might occur concerns homeowner association rules. Any alteration to existing regulations which interferes with a person’s religious practices could be viewed as discriminatory. One example of this comes from a reader in the Sun Sentinel who worried that the mandatory use of an electric key fob to gain access to his community would violate his religious beliefs on the Sabbath. In such instances, the problem would have to be solved through his HOA or condo association.
So when it comes to speaking with your realtor, do some online advance research and don’t put him or her in an uncomfortable position.
Read The Entire Transcript HereCollapse Transcript
Steve Pomeranz: It's time for Real Estate Round-up. This is the time every single week we get together with noted real estate agent, Terry Story. Terry is a 26-year veteran with Coldwell Banker located in Boca Raton, Florida. Welcome back to the show, Terry.
Terry Story: Thanks for having me, Steve.
Steve Pomeranz: The life of a real estate agent. People are always asking you questions, of course, about the home.
Terry Story: Everything.
Steve Pomeranz: Everything. Everything. However, there are certain questions that I think should not be asked of a real estate agent. Talk to us about that.
Terry Story: Sure. You can't expect agents to answer these loaded questions, and people ask them all the time. Is this a good neighborhood? Is this a safe neighborhood? Are the schools good? What type of people live here? Worse is when they specifically ask, can you show us a neighborhood where there's a large number of “fill in the blank”? We have to adhere by national housing laws, the Fair Housing Act, and we can't answer these questions because of discrimination laws. Just don't ask the agents these questions.
Steve Pomeranz: Again, some of these are so subjective when someone asks you if this is a good neighborhood. That could be a code word for something.
Terry Story: It could be a code word. For someone, it may be a code word, but it is very subjective. What I think is a good neighborhood, Steve, and you think is a good neighborhood aren't necessarily one in the same. It puts agents in a very funny position. Is it a safe neighborhood? Those are things that are easy to look up.
A lot of these answers to these questions, Steve, a buyer can find out fairly easy on the internet. We're not really allowed to direct you to what sites to go to per se, but I can tell you that a lot of the cities have their own websites that talk about crime statistics. Certainly, you can pull up the school ratings in any of the … just Google the names of the schools and they'll show you, in many cases, charts and graphs. They grade the schools on a variety of categories. If you are concerned about the schools, go visit the schools. Learn for yourself, is this a good school for my child?
The one I get all the time,