Fair Housing

Every seller and every buyer gets the same service, the same information, and the same access to homes. This page says what that means in practice, and what to do if you believe we fell short of it.

What the law protects

The federal Fair Housing Act makes it unlawful to discriminate in the sale of housing on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, familial status, or disability.

Virginia law goes further and also protects:

• Elderliness
• Source of funds, meaning any lawful way of paying for a home
• Sexual orientation
• Gender identity
• Military status

Michael is also a REALTOR®, a member of the National Association of REALTORS®, and follows its Code of Ethics. The Code protects many of the same groups again as a professional duty, so a REALTOR® answers to the association as well as to the law.

Here is who each source protects:

Protected class	Federal law	Code of Virginia	REALTOR® Code of Ethics
Race	Yes	Yes	Yes
Color	Yes	Yes	Yes
Religion	Yes	Yes	Yes
National origin	Yes	Yes	Yes
Sex	Yes	Yes	Yes
Familial status	Yes	Yes	Yes
Disability	Yes	Yes	Yes (the Code's word is "handicap")
Sexual orientation	Not named	Yes	Yes
Gender identity	Not named	Yes	Yes
Elderliness	Not named	Yes	Not named
Source of funds	Not named	Yes	Not named
Military status	Not named	Yes	Not named

We honor every class on this list, whichever source protects it.

Working with sellers

• Offers are chosen on price, terms, and the buyer's ability to close. We will not follow an instruction to turn a buyer away, or to favor one, for a protected reason, and we will tell you plainly if an instruction crosses that line.
• Every lawful kind of financing is treated as financing. FHA, VA, USDA, Virginia Housing, and down payment assistance are weighed on their terms and timelines, never held against the buyer who uses them.
• We describe the property, not the buyer. Marketing says what the home offers. It does not say who the home would suit.
• We recommend deciding offers without personal letters or photos from buyers. They can reveal protected information and put a seller at risk of a fair housing claim.

Working with buyers

• You choose where to look. We will show you any home you ask to see, in any area, and we do not steer anyone toward or away from a neighborhood.
• Questions about an area get facts. Ask about schools, flood risk, commute, or crime and you will get official sources you can check yourself, not opinions about who lives there.
• How you pay is your business. Your source of funds does not change the homes we show you or the effort we put in.

The REALTOR® Code of Ethics

Article 10 of the Code says a REALTOR® may not deny equal professional services to anyone, or take part in any plan to discriminate, because of race, color, religion, sex, disability, familial status, national origin, sexual orientation, or gender identity. Its standards of practice add two duties that shape how Michael talks about homes and neighborhoods:

• No volunteering a neighborhood's makeup. Michael will not offer information about the racial, religious, or ethnic makeup of a neighborhood, and will not do anything that could lead to panic selling. Other facts about an area, such as school data, are fine to share.
• No discriminatory advertising. Ads and listings will not state or suggest a preference, a limitation, or discrimination based on any class the Code protects.

A concern about a REALTOR®'s conduct can also go to the local association of REALTORS®, which runs its own ethics complaint process, separate from the state and federal agencies below.

Reasonable accommodations

If you have a disability, you can ask us to change how we work with you so you have the same opportunity as anyone else. For example:

• Communicating by text, email, or phone only, in whatever format you can read
• Meeting somewhere other than a home or an office
• More time to review documents before you sign
• Bringing a support person or an assistance animal to meetings and showings
• Doing a form or a tool with you by phone instead of on the site

How to ask: tell Michael in whatever way is easiest for you. There is no special form, you do not need to use the words "reasonable accommodation," and you never need to share a diagnosis.

If you believe we got it wrong

Tell us first if you are willing, because we would rather fix it. You can also ask for Ann Malcolm, principal broker of Malcolm Real Estate, who supervises Michael's work.

You are also entitled to go straight to a regulator, whether or not you raise it with us.

Virginia

Virginia Fair Housing Office
Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation
9960 Mayland Drive, Suite 400, Richmond, VA 23233
Toll free (888) 551-3247
dpor.virginia.gov/FairHousing

Federal

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity
(800) 669-9777
hud.gov/fairhousing