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Submitted by Marc Siden on November 30, 2010 - 3:00pm.

Dan,

Lifestyle Search is simply a new way, a tool if you will, that allows consumers to go online and search for areas to live that match their everyday needs as parents, consumers, commuters, worshipers, foodies, etc.

Lifestyle Search is a more concise and organized version of what home buyers have been doing for years, which is now available online - in one place and at their finger tips.

The data that they are searching is all publicly available through government sources and/or other means. The search engine that you refer to simply returns the results that the consumer voluntarily entered and prioritized, bringing back a number of different neighborhoods that may match their living criteria. They can now combine a property search in the best matched neighborhood for them to live. These results do not necessarily represent the opinion of the Agent or Broker, but instead helps this professional better understand the needs of her consumer.

When I moved my family with 2 children last year, I wanted to be near a fire station, in a dog friendly area, with both a pre-school and elementary school, with great restaurants, and parks. My search results lead me to 3 different neighborhoods and then I reached out to agents in those areas to begin looking at properties. If anything, the professionals helped to validate my research and I wound up choosing one of the 3 neighborhoods that I had researched. My agent did point a 4th but ultimately the commute time was too long for me.

Lifestyle is new medium. Consumers have evolved and want more. Technology has evolved and offers more. I think it a great mistake to jump to a judgment that in any way this medium promotes or violates any fair housing. Your concerns are real and it will only help us to better educate ourselves and our industry on how to help give the consumers more, while not at the expense of legal or ethical violations. Thank you for challenging us!!

As far as Exit Realty International or any Broker for that matter, Lifestyle Search is a tool that advances the consumer experience, and is not a company, broker or agent’s opinion, and certainly does not steer or discriminate.

Your comments are appreciated and we have heard this concern from others as well. The search criteria options that we provide are not discriminatory or predatory and does not try to sway people away from areas based on their characteristics, religion, physical abilities or age. However, it does help people identify areas that best match their preferences for family-oriented qualities, specific places or worship that matter to them and activities that might appeal to them based on their personal preferences. People have been searching based on their personal preferences for years, just not on the internet because it hasn't been available. Lifestyle Search is simply a new medium.

- Marc Siden, CEO, Onboard Informatics

 
Submitted by Ken Lampton on November 30, 2010 - 8:17pm.

Dan Alter, I think you make a very good point.

I've found it is not uncommon for my buyers to ask me questions which, if I answered, would put me in a position of steering. When they do this, I explain the Fair Housing Law. They always protest that their leading questions have nothing to do with race, religion, or family status . . . they are merely "lifestyle" questions.

Is "lifestyle marketing" an attempt to use the internet to make an end run around the Law?

 
Submitted by Lane Barnett on December 1, 2010 - 11:36am.

Sure, a lifestyle search can help a buyer find a compatible area but the opposite is also true. They don't want to be near concentrations of gays, Muslims, etc. I think a potential and unintended consequence of this tool by a broker like EXIT is the facilitation of Fair Housing violations.

 
Submitted by Melissa Pedersen on December 1, 2010 - 12:04pm.

Can Lifestyle Search violate Fair Housing Laws?

I guess that would depend on your definition of Lifestyle Search and how it is implemented. I agree with Marc that "People have been searching based on their personal preferences for years."

I also understand the writer's views that as a real estate professional you can not accommodate certain requests, like if a newly married Jewish couple asks a real estate agent to find them a home close to a synagogue in an "adults only" community, without violating Fair Housing Laws.

It is a fine line. However, I don't believe letting home buyers use technology to come up with their own definitions of what types of neighborhoods will fit their needs would be considered "steering". You are just letting them view the facts and coming up with their own conclusions.

For example "These three homes are all within our price range, are close to elementary schools and parks that my kids could walk to, are close enough to a gym that I would actually go, are within driving distance to the ferry, bus and/or train station and are around the corner or within a five minute drive of a church/synagogue etc." These are all facts that a home buyer would simply figure out by driving around the neighborhood, the same as using a lifestyle search engine.

The definition of what is "family friendly" or “single and hip” or "baby boomer oriented" should be determined by the home buyer based on what is relevant to them - not by the agent/broker.

Melissa Pedersen, Business Development, Home Junction Inc.

 
Submitted by Tyler Webb on December 3, 2010 - 2:16pm.

Hi,

Let's not forget that buyers have a right to move where ever the hell they please, for whatever reason. The Fair Housing Laws do not interfere with a buyer's decision in that regard. I can't steer them as an agent, but they can steer themselves using whatever tools they wish.

Tyler Webb
Champion Realty Inc
Annapolis, MD

 
Submitted by Fred Underwood on December 6, 2010 - 10:33am.

The fair housing laws prohibit discrimination – based on a number of factors, but not lifestyle. Sometimes lifestyle could be a proxy for race or other factor, but even in those situations, the buyer has the ultimate decisions where to live. Put in another way, the seller or the real estate agent cannot discriminate against a buyer, but a buyer can choose wherever she or he wants to live. If I only want to live in community A, even if it is more white than community B, I have that right. On the other hand, if my real estate agent or seller directs me to or away from a community because of race , that would be discrimination. Racial discrimination is illegal everywhere and it is a violation of our the NAR Code of Ethics.

Computers that allow lifestyle searches generally are ok, but could be subject to an analysis as to whether they are a proxy for discrimination.

Schools provide a good comparison. There is nothing in fair housing laws that prohibit someone from searching for properties in areas with certain quality of schools. In fact, that is one of the major factors influencing a homebuyers choice. A real estate agent does not discriminate on the basis of race by stating what school district the property is located in, even if the school district’s racial population is somehow different from another district’s. Real estate agents can even suggest schools as long as their actions don’t steer buyers illegally. I think the same analysis can help the discussion on lifestyle searches.

The NAR Equal Professional Service model works well when considering lifestyle searches: Use Systematic Procedures, Obtain objective information from the customer, Offer a variety of choices, and Let the customer set the limits.

Fred Underwood
Director, Diversity
NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®

 
Submitted by Alexandra Rodriguez on December 12, 2010 - 6:28pm.

Most buyers these days come to a realtor already educated about certain things and area that they want to live in. The tools are out there for them to make these decisions. Most do research on the area they want to live in with or without you.

We do our job and direct them to their price point in their location. They make the final decision. Like Tyler said, they are going to get the information from somewhere.