The Rules Roundup provides a monthly accounting of RMLS rules violations and courtesy notifications. Our Data Accuracy team manages all reports of property listing errors, tracking 27 specific issues outlined in the RMLS Rules and Regulations, and is responsible for addressing subscriber questions and concerns regarding listing accuracy.
HIGHLIGHTS
RMLS staff utilize software to flag certain words that may indicate HUD violations. It is important to note that receiving a violation with flagged HUD wording does not necessarily mean that listing has a fair housing violation.
We err on the side of caution and follow the best practices laid out by the Fair Housing Coalition of Oregon to prevent potential violations, thereby protecting ourselves and our subscribers.
“Oregon’s laws protect people from being treated differently because of your: race, color, religion, sex, national origin, whether or not you have kids, disability (also: source of income, domestic violence survivors, marital status, sexual orientation, and gender identity).”
Here are the best practices we follow:
Describe the home and not the people who will live there
- This means avoid any attempts to sell a “lifestyle” or assume the characteristics of the person who will be potentially buying the home. This is a slippery slope and unfair to assume that you know what type of person would be interested in the home you are marketing.
- Homes should be marketed using the characteristics and features of the home to attract people interested in those things.
Avoid advertising tactics that could be perceived as “steering” or targeting
- According to the National Association of REALTORS®, steering is the practice of influencing a buyer’s choice of communities based upon one of the protected characteristics under the Fair Housing Act, which are race, color, religion, gender, disability, familial status, or national origin.
- A common example we often see is highlighting a specific church or religious organization near the home.
Be cognizant of advertising that could be perceived as “chilling”
- An example of this would be using words like “exclusive,” “privileged,” and “elite” or words with similar meanings.
- Focus on inclusive advertising and ask yourself if any groups or protected classifications are being unconsciously left out in your marketing or advertising.
- Human models or renderings can be perceived as exclusionary, which is why we do not allow people in photos.
FORMAL VIOLATIONS
The RMLS Rules and Regulations Committee reviews all formal complaints which allege a violation of the RMLS Rules and Regulations. The committee has the power to impose sanctions.
The committee reviewed no cases in May 2024.
INFORMAL VIOLATIONS
The chart below shows violations that generated at least 15 instances in the past month. Some notable gains and decreases are noted below.
- Duplicate Listings fell from 40 to 2.
- Conditions to Compensate fell from 22 to 6.
- Missing Owner Name fell from 207 to 9.
- HUD went from 38 to 125.
- Personal Promotion jumped from 130 to 175.
Data Accuracy Department Statistics
The gain or loss comparison displayed in the parenthesis is versus the previous month.
- Listings Reviewed: 28,532 (+2,181)
- Notices Sent: 2,353 (+288)
- Violation Notices Received: 424 (+68)
- Courtesy Notices Sent: 2,050 (+254)
- Phone Calls Received: 577 (+10)
How to Report Violations
Subscribers have multiple options to report violations, including a Report Issue button on every RMLSweb listing. Subscribers can email our Data Accuracy team at dataaccuracy@rmls.com or call them at 503.395.1916. When there are increases in specific violation types, we sometimes place notifications on RMLSweb.
That’s really sad when we can’t describe very important key elements that is the key factor of a certain location..lifestyles. Urban living with the ease of walking distance to everything. My son is in a wheelchair. He likes knowing he can find places that he has that option to be able to not rely on driving and can get around easy to all amenities. ADU. Multi-generational home. These things are key to people tgat need these descriptions.
Hello Patricia! We understand your concerns though there typically many ways to effectively communicate the features an area has to offer. For example, citing the walkability of an area is not by itself a HUD violation. Using proximity phrases such as “close to” or “nearby” are also fine. You can say things like: “Car not necessary, lots nearby and public transportation available.” What everyone should avoid saying is something like: “Great for active people looking to get out and walk to see what the neighborhood has to offer.”
We hope this helps. Thanks for your feedback.
Welcome to the world of word salad and genericness. You would have your head explode if you were an appraiser, we now have a list of over 200 words that are taboo to use in an appraisal. It gets longer every month. The problem is that amc’s and lenders and fnma are using AI to scrub appraisals for word use and completely disregard the context in which it is used. It’s maddening.
Thank you for your feedback, Kevin. Hopefully the use of AI evolves to solve issues such as context recognition while still accommodating and supporting the need for Fair Housing requirements.