BROADCASTS.com

Published: June 1, 2017, 4:11 a.m.

b'When we were homebuyers, it was irritating to us that our agent wouldn\\u2019t answer certain questions that we thought were perfectly reasonable. Now that Karen is an agent, we know exactly why he wouldn\\u2019t provide direct answers to what we thought were simple questions. Questions like:

• \\u201cWhat are the demographics in this area?\\u201d
• "How are the schools here?\\u201d
• \\u201cWhat are the crime statistics of this neighborhood?\\u201d
• \\u201cIs there a church nearby?\\u201d
• \\u201cIs this a nice neighborhood?\\u201d

If an agent were to provide a direct answer to any of these questions and others like them, they would be putting themselves at risk of running afoul of the Fair Housing Act, which prohibits discrimination in housing based on race, color, sex, national origin, or religion. The best your agent can do is to provide you with places to do your own research and answer these questions for yourself. It\\u2019s unfortunate, but this is what your friendly neighborhood real estate agent has to do to stay on the right side of the law! \\xa0 '