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By LISA SCHEID; Times Leader Hazleton Bureau Chief
Sunday, July 04, 1993 Page: 3A QUICK WORDS: REALTOR LEADS FIGHT FOR
FAIRER HOUSING
BUTLER TWP. — The Butler Valley woman wanted to know if the couple about
to rent her home was black. It’s not me, the woman explained to Realtor Leslie
Kolodin, but I had to ask.
Kolodin didn’t answer. She couldn’t. To answer would have been against the
law. The rental was completed, but Kolodin’s company decided never to work
with the woman again.
It’s an experience most real estate professionals face at some time —
clients innocently or not-so-innocently discriminating against buyers or
renters. And it’s an experience that should make non-professionals wary,
Kolodin said.
Kolodin is relocation coordinator for Valley Realty. She is chairwoman of
the Greater Hazleton Board of Realtors’ fair-housing committee and is heading
a drive among its 20 members to support a voluntary fair-housing agreement.
Essentially, subscribers to the agreement say they will not discriminate on
the basis of race, sex, ancestry, color, religion, national origin, handicap
or disability, use of a guide animal, age, pregnancy or family status.
An agent shouldn’t tell a buyer, for example, if a neighborhood is Polish
or near a church.
So far, several Realtors and one lending institution in greater Hazleton
have subscribed to the agreement.
They are: Bacher Real Estate, Century-21 Pachence Real Estate,
Coldwell-Banker Benjamin Real Estate, Colonial Realty, Jerry McGuire, M.L.
Leib Real Estate, North Penn Realty, Property Shop Realty, The Prudential
Pocono Real Estate, The Valley Realty Group Inc., Robert Walker Real Estate
and 1st Federal Savings.
The agreement enables Realtors to proclaim their commitment to fair
housing. But the real estate professional’s burden does not end with a
signature.
The National Association of Realtors recommends agencies treat each client
the same, having them fill out the same type of qualifying and profile
information.
The payoff for the extra paperwork, careful choice of words and possible
loss of clients? Kolodin said it benefits society.
“We as a society cannot go through life with tunnel vision,” Kolodin said.
Anyone connected with a deal involving discrimination can be sued,
including sellers, buyers, renters or their brokers. Fair-housing suits may be
filed up to six years after an alleged incident of discrimination.
“You are not even supposed to have a discussion about it,” said Anita
Reber, of Valley Realty. “It gets more difficult to be in this business every
year because of liability. There’s a lot of stress involved in what we say and
how we say it.”
For more information about fair housing or to make a complaint, call
1-800-669-9777. cq