Steering

Customer talking to realtor about his requirements in picking a neighborhood: "I'd like you to preview homes only in neighborhoods with my kind of neighbors." Depending on what you mean by "my kind of neighbors" this might be steering. Steering is when a realtor takes a customer only to certain neighborhoods based on the racial make-up of that neighborhood. Steering is illegal when it involves protected classes of people. Protected classes of people are race, color, sex, children, age, sexual orientation. A realtor may not steer customers to or away from neighborhoods with protected classes of people.

Where does this leave a customer looking for a home in a safe neighborhood with good schools? It leaves you with the ability to do your own research on the neighborhoods you are interested in living in. I'm a military spouse. The Army has moved my family all over the United States. Each time we receive permanent change of station orders (orders to move somewhere), I go onto realtor.com and type in neighborhoods and type in the city I'm interested in living in and see how the schools and crime rate compare to eachother. I also talk to people in the area I'll be moving. I explain what I'm looking for and they usually steer me to where I want to start my search. I also spend time driving all around the areas I think I'm most interested in living. Sometimes this shows me other areas I prefer, but not usually. Usually I end up right where my contacts said in the first place.

That said, if you tell me what you're looking for, I'll most likely be able to find you the perfect home for you. I'll take you to three different neighborhoods. You'll see which feels right. To do this, you'll look at pride of ownership of the neighbor's homes. See if it works for you. You'll consider all the usual things that make every property unique. Often, you'll have to compromise, especially if your budget is modest.

Ultimately, the purpose of a realtor is to match up buyers with sellers to achieve a win-win for both. Realtors have no interest in discriminating against anyone. But it is a waste of time for me to show homes in an obviously wrong neighborhood. To avoid this and still not steer, specify exactly what the neighborhood looks like that you think you might be interested in living. Then you have a much better chance of finding it quickly.