A reader writes Realty Times:

I have read a few of your online columns regarding Fair Housing and thought you might be able to answer a question about realtor and mortgage broker advertising in relation to fair housing.

I have seen several web sites and various ads for events like BlackExpo, PrideFest, gay yellow pages, Christian Family Mortgage, etc. If a realtor or mortgage broker participates in these events or advertises with these publications is that a fair housing violation? What if a realtor refers someone to Christian Family Mortgage - are there Fair Housing implications?

It just seems like an agent or mortgage broker might be targeting one specific group while excluding everyone else. Is that discrimination or is it just their prerogative to solicit business from a specific group?

Realty Times answers:

Listings, service and production-based marketing plans are so similar that consumers have a hard time telling one agent from another. And with the number of active agents increasing over 25 percent in less than five years, competition is stiff. Then throw in the fact that many agents adopt automated marketing systems to simply get a toehold on the Internet and the challenge to distinguish themselves becomes even greater.

These factors and others create a ripe environment for niches. As the real estate industry becomes more competitive, niche specialization is becoming a lead generation alternative for many real estate professionals.

It's natural to want to work smarter, not harder, so agents casting about for a way to corner a part of the market will conclude sooner or later that it would be nice to work with others like themselves. They perceive that a bond will be easier to establish and that communication will be easier.

When agents specialize in unique real estate such as golf course living or ski resorts, no one thinks a thing of it because the focus is on the real estate - not the people whom the agents will meet. They assume that their clients will have interest in those homes because of their interest in those activities. While it's clear that the agents hope to work with golfers and skiers, they put nothing in their advertising that excludes buyers and sellers who happen to be couch potatoes.

But when agents advertise to connect with certain people of similar interests, beliefs and ethnicities, that's when Fair Housing guidelines come into play.

Fair Housing laws and guidelines are found on the U.S. Department of Urban Housing and Development's (HUD) Hud.gov .

Fair housing for all means that agents can't exclude consumers based on race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status, or national origin, but even then, Fair Housing guidelines are open to some interpretation. Guidelines are based on known complaints, not unknown complaints. They are based on protected classes of people who don't want opportunities denied them based on the color of their skin, a personal handicap, single or divorced status or other personal characteristics that have nothing to do with their economic ability to buy, sell, rent or lease a home.

According to the Guidance Regarding Advertisements Under 804(c) of the Fair Housing Act, Section 804(c) of the Act

"prohibits the making, printing and publishing of advertisements which state a preference, limitation or discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status, or national origin."

"Publishers and advertisers are responsible under the Act for making, printing, or publishing an advertisement that violates the Act on its face," intones Section 804(c). "Thus, they should not publish or cause to be published an advertisement that on its face expresses a preference, limitation or discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status, or national origin."

This would suggest that the HUD doesn't want agents to appeal to certain races, religious affiliations, etc., but that doesn't seem to stop agents from doing so, because they have a weasel-clause.

All they have to do is to publicly place the Fair Housing seal on their Websites and other advertising. Agents must appear to disclaim discrimination, even while they are indirectly practicing it.

Christian agents can market themselves to Christian consumers, and still be in compliance with federal housing laws, if they proclaim that they do not discriminate against non-Christians. Gays can advertise to other gays as long as they don't practice discrimination against straights, and so on.

But adding a disclaimer shouldn't be viewed as a bullet-proof shield. Consumers can and will litigate whenever they feel like it. The question that any agent must ask, as suggested by Arizona attorney Robert Bass, is, "Could what I'm doing be misconstrued as discriminatory?"

Bass advises, "Get familiar with Fair Housing laws at the Office Of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity as outlined in the Fair Housing Act. Sec. 804. [42 U.S.C. 3604] which deals with discrimination in the sale or rental of housing and other prohibited practices. Sec. 805. [42 U.S.C. 3605] deals with discrimination in residential real estate-related transactions."