NSBAR - North Shore Barrington Association of REALTORS - Steve Volkodav - Beware the racist, s****.>

Beware the racist, s****.>

 The racist treatment from the Realtors in the North Shore is worse than any other part of Chicago or its suburbs. According to Chicago Tribune “s****.>

If racial profiling by real estate agents doesn’t bum you out enough, the Urban Institute revisited “The Negro Family: The Case For National Action,” known as the Moynihan Report. Ta-Nehisi Coates examined the study over at The Atlantic yesterday and, well, things are worse than they were when the original report on black poverty in America was released in 1965. For all the hope of a post-racial America after Obama was elected, neighborhoods look awfully similar to the way they did 50 years ago. And the opportunities are just as scarce.

A new report by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development shows that real estate and leasing agents do not show minority homebuyers and renters as many available properties as they do to white customers. In nearly all cases, whether renting or buying, minorities were told about and shown fewer properties than white people. Blacks were told about and shown about 17 percent fewer homes than whites, while Asians were told about 15.5 percent fewer homes and shown nearly 19 percent fewer properties.

When real estate and rental agents don't allow minorities to hear about or see all properties available to them, they may wind up assigning their kids to worse schools, reducing their overall safety and limiting their job opportunities, Donovan said.

National Fair Housing Alliance found that North Shore –Barrington RE/Max agents time and again steered potential white and Latino homebuyers to areas where their race predominated. A Re/Max agent showed a Latino tester three homes in predominantly African-American and Latino areas, homes that were markedly less expensive than those she could afford, and told her that he did not have a lot of time for her. Conversely, the same agent showed a white tester nine homes, the majority of which were in predominantly white areas. The agent offered to show the white tester many more homes in predominantly white neighborhoods as far as a 50 mile drive away.

One real estate agent, John DeJohn, also made illegal comments. He told a white tester, “I don’t care if you are a bigot. If we go to an area and you don’t like it, just let me know. I can’t be a bigot but you can be one.” In addition, DeJohn informed a white tester that the two homes they viewed together in a predominantly African-American and Latino area were “dumps” and “repos” even though he had told the Latino tester that one of those homes “might be good for you.” And while the white tester received multiple follow-up calls subsequent to his appointment with the real estate agent, the Latino tester received none

It bears repeating: It’s 2013 and real estate agents are showing more options to white people than people of color. If you’re upper middle class and black, odds are you’re living in a neighborhood equally impoverished as poor white people. So much for upward mobility.

12 city investigation found an alarming 87% rate of racial steering and an almost 20% rate of denial for African-Americans and Latinos. The Fair Housing Act prohibits housing discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, sex, familial status and disability.

When are Realtors going to learn? Your image is damaged. The consumers used to trust you. Your prestige and credibility are both at all-time lows. Instead of spending millions of dollars on frivolous advertising campaigns, perhaps it should really seek to do some good for the less priviledged in this world?