It’s so hard for me to believe that in 2022 there are still people out there who treat others a certain way due to their skin color, but it’s useless to say it doesn’t happen, because we all know it does.  Things are no different in the real estate industry, and that’s why it’s a good idea to understand the laws and know what you should expect from agents.  Racial steering is something you may not even realize is happening to you or has happened to you until you know what it actually is.   Racial steering is not a new practice, but even if you’ve experienced it,  you may not have heard the term. So, what is racial steering? According to South Carolina Real Estate Principles by Charles H. Browne racial steering is “the practice of channeling home seekers to particular areas, either to maintain the homogeneity of an area or to change the character of an area, limiting the choices of where the home seeker can live.” This practice is illegal according to the Fair Housing Act which prohibits discrimination in housing based on race or color, religion, sex, familial status, national origin, or disability.  Putting this a little simpler, racial steering is basically only showing someone neighborhoods where the people look like they do or directing them away from neighborhoods where the people do not look like they do.  The intentions of the person “steering” do not make a difference, it is illegal regardless. For the sake of this discussion, let’s say you live in Arizona and you have decided to move to South Carolina.  You call a brokerage in South Carolina and speak with a real estate agent and then you decide to fly to Charleston to meet the agent in person and decide on a more specific location.  When you arrive in Charleston you rent a car, and with help from the internet, you drive around and get a feel for some neighborhoods in the areas you feel meet your needs.  The next day you meet the agent, you get along fine, and she seems to know the area well so you have her show you homes that are available in the area you decided on.  At the end of the day, although the agent has shown you many homes in the area you asked, none of them were in the specific neighborhoods you had favored.  You ask the agent if there are any homes available in those neighborhoods. The agent replies, saying there is nothing available there and it’s probably a good thing because she really doesn’t think you’d like it there.  You decide to trust what she has told you, but notice that she did not get on her phone or computer to try and search for listings.  Before you leave town, you search online for listings in those neighborhoods one more time and you find one that not only suits your needs but also that it has been listed for a week.  You wonder why the agent didn’t tell you about it, but chalk it up to a simple mistake.  It very may well have been a simple mistake, but it also may have been racial steering.  The agent may have purposely not shown you the property because the majority of the people in that neighborhood look differently than you.  I’ll be honest, I have a very hard time imagining any of the agents I’ve worked with doing this, but it has been found that often agents don’t even realize they are doing it.  Regardless,  let’s discuss ways to keep it from happening to you.  If you know someone you trust and they can recommend a real estate agent, use that agent. Investigate the area you want to live and narrow it down as much as you can before looking at homes. If you can’t give your agent a list of specific neighborhoods, at least give them a perimeter or a boundary area to search and let them know if there are areas you do not want to live. Choose a real estate agent who is a Realtor ®.  Realtors ® are real estate agents who have joined the National Association of Realtors (NAR).  Members of NAR are required to adhere to an extensive Code of Ethics.  According to NAR only about half of all real estate agents are Realtors® so you have a 50/50 shot of picking one.  I suggest only picking from those who are. If your agent actually refuses to show you a home or continually doesn’t provide available listings in a certain neighborhood, be direct in asking them why, and if you are not satisfied with their response, discontinue working with them.  If you feel that they were steering you, at the very least report them to their broker in charge, consider reporting them to the local real estate board (South Carolina Real Estate Commission), and if they are a Realtor®, to the local association of Realtors® (South Carolina Realtor® Association). If you aren’t paying attention, you may not know if an agent is steering you, so be diligent in your home search. Your agent should be making you aware of everything available in the area you request that meets the criteria you have given them. Your agent should be finding out everything you want in your home and the surrounding area.  They should not only ask you questions about what you want in your home but also what you want in the neighborhood and surrounding community.  They should know how far from work, the grocery store, the daycare etc. you want to be.  If there is a neighborhood with beautiful homes that fit everything you’ve asked for, but the crime rate is high, your agent should still show you these homes as well.  It is not up to your agent to decide if a high crime rate means a neighborhood is not “good”.  If a lower crime rate designates a neighborhood as “good” to you, then it is up to you to research crime rates in the area, filter which neighborhoods you think are “good”, and let your agent know the neighborhoods you are interested in and those you are not.  It may seem like your agent should do this for you, and trust me some of us feel the same way and we want to help our clients, however, agents cannot know everyones guidelines for “good”, “bad”, “safe” etc, and if we try to,  it is more likely that we will offend someone at some point and violate Fair Housing laws.  So instead,  a good agent gives their clients the tools they need to find the information they can use to make these decisions for themselves. Always do your own research on the area,  do not depend solely on your agent to pick a neighborhood for you. Your agent will not be living there, only you should decide where you are comfortable. Find out what you can on your own on top of asking your agent lots of questions about neighborhoods.  Be aware that agents are restricted from answering some questions due to fair housing laws, so if your agent avoids answering certain questions don’t assume they are being difficult. For example, if you ask them if a neighborhood is good or safe  they may direct you to websites about school ratings or crime statistics instead of answering directly. This is because they are not allowed to give their opinion on such things that could show bias.  This may be a little more difficult to understand, but even if the client asks their agent to show them homes in neighborhoods where a certain race is predominant, it is still illegal for the agent to do so.  If you want to live in an area where your neighbors are the same race as you, it is up to you to do the research for yourself and then you can tell your agent in what specific neighborhoods you would like them to search.   Finding a home for someone is a very intimate thing to do.  Your agent should want to get to know you and what’s important to you, this will help them do their job better, but they should never give any demographic information and they should never make choices for you.   When you first meet your agent, if they are not asking you a lot of questions about what you want and need in your home and the community, then they may not be the right agent.   Having made the investment in joining the National Association of Realtors and also completing their new Fair Housing simulation training, I am committed to protecting your housing rights.  Contact me if you are looking for a Realtor® who is.  If you have any comments you’d like to share about fair housing or your experience with it, please comment below.