Written By: Lawrence Jacobson
Lawrence Jacobson, Attorney, is one of the featured speakers at the 6th Annual MillionDollarBrain.com mortgage workshop, February 9-11, 2006 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Formerly the Vice President of Legal Affairs for the California Association of Realtors® and serves as an expert witness in real estate-related litigation. Email your questions to law.jac@verizon.net.
Real estate and mortgage brokers who employ models to advertise properties for sale or loan programs need to be aware and/or in conformance with anti-discriminatory laws governing such use.
The Fair Housing Act, as most brokers should know, makes it unlawful to "discriminate in the sale, rental and financing of housing because of race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status or national origin."
But what many do not know is that the same Fair Housing Act also says it is unlawful "to make, print or publish any notice, statement, or advertisement" for the sale or rental of a dwelling that indicates any preference, limitation or discrimination or even intention "because of race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status or national origin."
As applied to advertising, the prohibitions of the law mean that if you plan to feature models in a staged photo of a home or other residential property sale or in advertising a real estate loan program, the models can't be all white or all African-American or Asian. Bottom line -
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