Problem is that sometimes fair housing is in direct conflict with customer service interests.

Customer service is about what you CAN do for your residents/applicants. Fair housing is about what you are specifically told NOT to do for them.

What an unbelievably interesting twist on this issue, Stephani. I can see how this happens, and how very sad that must be to have them left "on their own" when they need so much care...

I refuse to live in fear of fair housing. I 100% agree with the spirit of the laws, but will not constantly worry about how things are perceived. In the example given I still don't see how using a name could cause perceived discrimination. The lead comes with the name, so I presumably already have an idea of who I'm dealing with. How does using the name change that? This is absolutely not an attack on you Sandy, just an observation. I stopped attending a certain person’s fair housing classes because according to her everything was a violation. Calling children, children or kids is discrimination and they should be called young persons. Posting age limits at the pool could get me in trouble because I'm discriminating against young persons. This is why there are times we don’t make good business decisions based on the fear of a perceived discrimination. Again I 100% believe everyone who qualifies should be able to lease a home, and it would never occur to me to treat people differently, however there has to be a line somewhere.
On of the biggest complaints I get at my active seniors community is that there are so many people living here that truly need more assistance than we can offer. I have lost prospects due to some days it does look like a nursing home, however as long as the prospect qualifies on paper I must rent to them. My biggest issue is when they move in a parent who can truly no longer care for themselves but the families are too busy or just plain unwilling to help out. That leaves us to check on Ms Jones who forgets to eat, or Mr. Smith who forgets to take his insulin. While it’s certainly not our jobs someone has to do it. I actually get calls from people whose parents are being released from the hospital for a serious condition, and can no longer live alone. Rather than move them somewhere that offers assistance (and cost a whole lot more) they “park” them here. They can’t even sign a lease or write out a rent check and I know they are going to be left alone to fend for themselves, but I can’t do a darn thing about it!

I sure do agree with Brent! I like writing personalized emails to everyone; however, even though the Marketing Directors/Owners may also approve of them, I am discourged from teaching this technique because of the mistaken interpretations that can result from the personalization. It's almost like you can't show your personality or share in the Prospects' funny remarks and witty banter. The fact is though, that in real estate, the industry is so fast paced that mistakes can happen and Prospects often don't understand that if they decline an apartment at 10 AM it can be gone by the time they come back at 5 PM. They also don't grasp the concept that pricing changes, too, according to the market.

This is exactly why I think Fair Housing rules are broken in their current form. It stops people from providing better service because of the threat of Fair Housing, rather than the discrimination issue itself. I'm not against Fair Housing in general - it just needs to be adjusted to remove unneeded fear and allow us to grow as an industry.

(Sorry for the rant, Sandy - it wasn't meant to be directed at you!)

According to the webinar, posting personalized email is risky because of prospects names.

An example would be:

You replied to someone with an e-mail name of This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and said you did not have any availability at this time.

Then later that day you replied to someone with an e-mail name of This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
and said you had 3 coming open.

It is PERCEIVED discrimination, even if it was not intentional. Perhaps you got three notices to vacate that afternoon.

I know, I know, B.S., but it's a reality.

That's why I only answer the any specific question they ask at the top then I paste my generic response below it. It's consistent.