Fair Housing protected classes

Hi, everybody. Cheryl Knowlton coming at you with your Dynamite Tip of the Day. As you probably know, April is Fair Housing Month with the National Association of Realtors … so important. I wish that we just had fair housing year because it is that important that we understand all of the protected classes, and what they are, and what we can and what we cannot do.

Remember FRESH CORN

In this video, I’m going to introduce you to all of the protected classes, and then in subsequent videos, we’re going to go through them individually. But for now, we’re going to go through all of the protected classes, and the acronym for that is FRESH CORN. The F in FRESH CORN stands for Familiar Status, Familiar Status. The R stands for Race. E is for Ethnicity. S is for Sex, and H is for Handicap. There’s our FRESH. CORN. The C is for Color. O is a place holder in the federally-protected classes, but there is a state-protected class, so we’re going to come back to the O, so don’t forget about that. R is for Religion, and N is for National Origin.

I love talking to agents about the difference between ethnicity, national origin, and race. What is the difference between the three of them, and is there a difference? The answer is yes. There’s a difference, which is why they’re all listed individually, but we’ll talk about each one individually, like I said, in other videos.

But let’s go back to O. It is not currently, as of the making of this video, a federally-protected class, but it is a protected class, not only in the State of Utah but many of the states throughout the country. Sexual orientation and gender identity. Under the Code of Ethics, Article 10, which is the Fair Housing article, sexual orientation, and gender identity, that O in the word CORN, is protected, and that was changed several years ago.

We as realtors pledge that we will take care of and love everyone, even if they are purple, spotted zebras who also happen to be blond. We are going to love and take care of everyone, and that includes sexual orientation and gender identity, even though they are not yet federally-protected classes. That legislation has yet to occur. It may be happening sometime soon. I’ve heard rumors that it might.

You are going to love and protect everyone

In the meantime, you are going to do it right. You are going to love and protect everyone, so just act as if all of FRESH and all of the CORN are federally-protected classes, and you will be safe. There may, additionally, be some state-protected classes in your state. For example, in some states hoarding is a protected class, believe it or not. That was a shock to me, but as I have taught fair housing in a number of states throughout the country, hoarding is actually a mental illness, which thing I did not know until I started teaching in states where hoarding is a protected class. That would be fun to do a video segment on that at some point, so we’ll do that in the future, as well.

In the meantime, FRESH CORN. That is the name of the game for the day, so enjoy Fair Housing Month. I challenge you to take At Home With Diversity as soon as you possibly can, either live or online. It is a phenomenal course that will lay the foundation for you to create a phenomenal business taking care of and loving everyone, no matter who they are or where they’re from. And that is your Dynamite Tip of the Day.