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As a 30-plus-year champion spades player at my family game night, I have two mottos. The first is “Play to win the hand you are dealt.” The second is “You have a partner; act like it.: They also apply to each iteration of the real estate market that I have seen over my lifetime, beginning as the child of “mom and pop” (because they are my mom and pop) real estate investors to now. But how do these mottos hold up today?
You may have noticed that the federal government under President Trump’s second administration is eliminating spending for various consumer protections, investigative resources and enforcement actions (through HUD, DOJ and CFPB) that claimed to be already lacking in their budgets and staff.
With these federal funding freezes and firings, it seems we may have less fair housing and lending federal enforcement (along with subsequent penalties) for the foreseeable future. As devastating as this is, I have never been a fan of focusing solely on penalties at the expense of rewards — positive reinforcement, often known as the “carrot versus stick” — to motivate any learner, especially not in the real estate industry (from sales agents to lender to appraisers to HOA leadership).
The cards we have been dealt
I believe even with these changes, we can play the hand we have been dealt while we see if the dealer is going to re-deal. Ultimately, I believe that self-motivation, transparency and accountability are greater than prioritizing mostly enforcement.
With the overall U.S. homeownership rate only increased by roughly 2 percent in 10 years (see first image below), the entire real estate industry, including mortgage and appraisal, has a great opportunity to self-motivate because the rewards of increasing homeownership for everyone ideally are:
- Economic growth
- Local spending/investment
- Tax incentives
- Job generation
- Neighborhood stability
- Wealth creation and inflation hedge for homeowners
But what about transparency and accountability? Let’s start with some highlights from the 2025 Snapshot of Race and Home Buying in America by the National Association of Realtors Research Group.
The truth about steering
“I wouldn’t live there if I were you.” What racial group do you believe has experienced the most unfair housing in the form of steering? Well, according to NAR’s survey, it was white Americans.
How does that sit with you? Are you surprised? Or, do you instantly think of some agents who are notorious for direct commentary (such as “Who wants to live there?”) or indirect signals (e.g. eye-rolls, etc.)?
“We must fight for the right to live where we want, not where we are told.” — Fannie Lou Hamer.
Takeaway: Unfair housing impacts everyone. It is no secret that laws of any kind can be violated. (Have you ever watched the ID channel or listened to a True Crime podcast? Yeesh!) Thus, illegal steering (along with all other forms of unfair housing) in real estate takes away our legal rights. Let’s do better and hold each other as real estate colleagues accountable.
“The Fair Housing Act was a start, but our work is far from over.” — Barbara Jordan
Valuing peace of mind
Significantly, between a quarter and half of those surveyed used the proceeds from the sale of their last home to get their next home. Yet, some of the white (6 percent), Black (11 percent) and Asian (14 percent) homeowners believed that they experienced unfair lending in regard to their home appraisal. Avoiding the McNamara Fallacy, those numbers matter.
“I was so happy, but then it just sinks in. It sinks in that what was devaluing my home was me.” — Carlette Duffy, Indianapolis, a homeowner who discovered racial bias in her home appraisal.
Takeaways: We may play cards, but we do not play about our money. If a homeowner suspects a lowballed appraisal, even if the appraiser is the creme de la creme (never having a complaint) our habit as the professionals should be to encourage a second opinion.
In other areas of our lives (from car repairs to significant surgeries), getting a second opinion at the least adds to our peace of mind. For many people, it is no secret that buying, selling or even refinancing a home is one of their most significant transactions, so let’s remove the stigma of getting a second opinion.
How proactive are you about making store returns?
My mom hates the hassle of returns, from finding the original packaging to dealing with potentially long or slow lines with the customer service department. For her, merchandise returns are just not a good use of her energy, even when she needs to return the only-once-used Dyson vacuum. I, on the other hand, do not mind, so I made the pricey return for her.
Similarly, I am not shocked that this NAR survey found that between 92 percent and 96 percent of people who believed they experienced unfair housing did not bother to report it. Supporting this data, the National Fair Housing Alliance has estimated actual complaints (there were over 30,000 in last year’s report) likely account for only 1 percent of actual perceived violations.
Takeaways: Every time I teach a local fair housing class and I show the various local websites and organizations available to report and investigate unfair housing, real estate pros discover these resources often for the first time. Let’s change this. Sure, we legally will not complete forms for our clients (like I can do the store return for my mom) but we can keep a toolbox of what local organizations can help.
Wishlist for future NAR studies
This version of the NAR report does not mention any of the survey limitations, so any easy improvement — customary to research studies — is to include a discussion of limitations and recommended improvements in all future studies.
Secondly, this report did not specify a more detailed look at the respondents’ identity, such as who has a disability/accessibility need, which may account for the survey showing nominal disability discrimination (since national data supports disability having the most discrimination complaints but this report shows the opposite). Ideally, to gauge unfair housing more comprehensively for race, the report should identify more sub-categories (somewhere included) using each of the national, state and local fair housing protected classes, which are:
- Color
- Religion
- National origin
- Sex (included)
- Familial status (included)
- Disability (this has evolved to “a person that uses an assistive device”)
- Age (included)
- Ancestry
- Sexual orientation
- Gender identity
- Marital status (included)
- Military status
- Domestic violence victims
- Source of income
- Genetic information
- Pregnancy
- HIV/AIDS
- Fair chance/reentry/criminal record history
Also, this was a random survey, but it would be great if future studies included both random and non-random sampling methods to attempt to control for potential biases by focusing on specific characteristics or group control (e.g., age, disability/accessibility needs, multi-generational households, number of respondents per each race, etc.).
“The way to right wrongs is to turn the light of truth upon them.” — Ida B. Wells
Lee Davenport is a licensed real estate broker, trainer and coach. Follow her on YouTube, or visit her website.
