This is getting out of hand. A company can't limit their service by price range because it affects POC disproportionately? Nonprofit NFHA money shakedown continues. The Courts have ruled that entities cannot be found responsible for factors they don't control. Research has shown a correlation between POC and socio-economic factors. RedFin did not select the criteria based on race, color, ethnicity ... but price range. Will higher priced product brands soon be forced to market to and sell goods at a loss? The only solution I see is getting rid of RedFn salaried real estate agents. Make them work on commission split that covers RedFn's costs and let them choose their own deals.
"Redfin’s ‘minimum price limit’ slashed real estate services in non-white neighborhoods—and now the company is paying a $4 million settlement. For prospective homebuyers, the online search portal and real estate brokerage Redfin is a go-to resource. Listings in more than 100 housing markets in the United States and Canada can be browsed easily, and a monthly average of more than 47 million users did so in 2021, according to the company’s annual report.
But in certain markets, search results had a big caveat. Redfin would show the listings, but due to what it called a “minimum price limit,” the company declined to make the full range of its services available—including real estate agents, professional photos, and promotion. That disproportionately affected homes in non-white areas.
“That policy resulted in Redfin predominantly not providing services in Black and Latino areas and predominantly offering services in white areas,” says Morgan Williams, general counsel of the National Fair Housing Alliance. For example, in the majority-minority city of Chicago, the minimum price threshold was set at $400,000, while in neighboring DuPage County, the threshold was just $275,000. In the majority-Black city of Detroit, the minimum price was $700,000, while outside city borders that limit was just $250,000. Redfin defended this policy, arguing that limiting its activities by price is the only fair way for the company to operate profitably.
Redfin objects to the characterization of its minimum price limit as redlining. “Describing a price-based policy as redlining is sensationalistic and wrong because Redfin serves all neighborhoods in the metro areas where we operate,” a company spokesperson tells Fast Company. “We do not make service determinations based on race or the demographics of the neighborhood. Home price is the only fair and objective way to make that determination because home price determines the fees we earn.”
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Mary Cummins of Cummins Real Estate is a certified residential licensed appraiser in Los Angeles, California. Mary Cummins is licensed by the California Bureau of Real Estate appraisers and has over 35 years of experience.
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