This is why when people on here say they want more affordable housing I don't think they realize just how unaffordable newer construction would be for most people without massive subsidies the city doesn't have due to how they don't pull in revenue from the counties....where most people are moving anyway.

> looking at my phone is far superior to driving.

Why not be like your average Richmond driver and have the best of both worlds?

> People will absolutely use non-price ways of sorting buyers/renters if they face limited competition and/or growing demand.

Limited consequences for their actions too unfortunately.

> Whatever dude, doesn't affect my livelihood in any way. Writing letters ::insert discriminating behavior that benefits you here:: worked for me and lots of people I know . I don't agree with you and that's fine.

> Also, sure, this poster has only warns people on reddit, but that leaves two scenarios: > > They tell people on reddit not to it and they also tell their clients not to do it. In my opinion, I don't think that is working in a client's best interest based on what's currently legal. I can't speak to professional or ethics norms because I don't work in that industry.

As I've already said that as an agent I'm not supposed to have anything to do with buyer love letters. I tell buyers they are a dumb idea that could backfire badly on them because they could just as easily be discriminated against. My broker does not approve of it. The NAR and RAR absolutely do not approve of it and have sent out numerous bulletins and emails saying they do not approve of it and do not want people to engage in the practice. I'm pretty sure HUD has even come out and said they can put you in legal jeopardy over fair housing laws. Agents who are using them regardless of all of these warnings are not agents I would advise working with for the same reason I wouldn't suggest working with agents who skirt other best practices, procedures, or laws.

I also tell my sellers that we should not accept letters under any circumstances and that I will be telling agents submitting letters that they will not be looked at or reviewed by the seller. I have picked up the phone and lit people up who sent me letters after stating up front that I do not want to see them.

Most agents agree with this position! Many will specifically state in listing agent-only comments that buyer letters will not be reviewed or passed on to the seller and that they do not want to receive them. Including them could negatively effect the perception of your offer. I'm not an outlier here. Suggesting that I am not working in the best interests of my clients is nuts considering that engaging in this kind of behavior can actively work against the interests of a client, put you in jeopardy with your brokerage/RAR/HUD, and even leave your buyer open to being discriminated against.

Or I'm making all of this up in an effort to misdirect the entire RVA reddit real estate market to give my buyers the unfair advantage. Totally plausible of course. Sure. Why not.

I mean we have programs and grants and what not but it's been tricky to deploy due to how competitive everything has been the last few years. What good is grant money if you can't get someone to accept an offer because you state you are using a VHDA loan vs someone coming in hot with conventional? It helps the buyer but can also weaken the offer so it's a catch 22.

It is the policy of most brokerages that you do not get involved with buyer love letters. Many states have banned the practice. The NAR has repeatedly told people to stop doing it. What you are suggesting I do is ignore all of this even though there is just as much of a chance it could backfire. It is a monumentally stupid take.

There are some groups that try to bring it up from time to time. I know there have been some productive discussions on how the industry handles some of these things despite the history real estate has with things like redlining and blockbusting. Skirting fair housing laws is absolutely still a thing and many brokers are starting to come down hard on it especially with regard to the buyer love letter thing.

It's really a difficult thing to address because even if you sort the industry side of it out you still have buyers and sellers who are more than willing to casually engage in racist behavior. Sort of like the big galaxy brained response to my post saying I'm a bad agent because I'm not okay discrimination or something.

What lol

If anyone wants a kind of "on the ground" perspective on housing I did a pretty thorough post about it a little while ago.

https://old.reddit.com/r/rva/comments/101bxgh/rva_real_estate_outlook_2023_behold_a_pale_gray/

Something I don't usually go into because there really is no easy way to talk about it is the racial disparity issue mentioned in the OP. There are a number of reasons why this is a problem outside of my bubble in real estate, but there are also some reasons for why this is a problem within the industry. I have personally dealt with agents who expressed some pretty racist shit thinking that they were safe to talk that way since I'm a white realtor. Lots of agents saying things like "you know how THOSE people are". I've seen black clients of mine straight up ignored when we go to an open house or new home model. I've heard landlords say they don't want to rent to minorities when discussing rentals. The point is it's not some isolated occurrence. It happens way more often than people realize and even if people aren't openly saying it it's going to actively influence how they are treated throughout the process and whether or not offers are accepted or deals are struck.

This is why when a buyer "love letter" is brought up on reddit I lose my shit and tell people to stop fucking doing it because it opens the door to discrimination that is absofuckinglutely happening behind closed doors. That's the point of the letter and included photo. You are asking someone to engage in discrimination in your favor.

"Okay why does that matter?"

If you are a minority you may run into the problem of fighting an uphill battle for a few reasons. You may not have an offer accepted as easily if your name sounds a certain way. In a competitive environment that might mean you need to offer more up front in order to compensate which means the threshold for affordability might be higher than if you were white. It handicaps your purchasing power.

You may end up with an agent that took you on as a client but won't dedicate the kind of attention and time it might take for you to get what you want because that agent is just going through the motions and churning through volume. Same goes for some lenders. Maybe you get a higher rate or that lender drags their feet and won't respond as quickly as they would for another buyer. You may not be taken as seriously as a white buyer.

If you've listed your home offers might come in lower because people will assign a lower value to your home if they know you are a minority. This includes the process of getting an appraisal. This is an actual thing.

https://www.cnn.com/2021/12/09/business/black-homeowners-appraisal-discrimination-lawsuit/index.html

If your home is appraised lower or you don't get what most would consider fair market value you may not have the equity you need from the sale to get into your next home. Maybe your offers won't be as competitive.

Agents don't get a pass for this either. Minority agents earn significantly less than white agents for a lot of the same reasons. There are absolutely conversations that happen behind closed doors about certain brokerages and agents that coincidentally happen to be minority owned. Those agents are also dealing with some of the problems I mentioned. A big part of that is a perceived lack of credibility or knowledge because of what they look like, or assumptions about how they will conduct themselves in a transaction.

Like most things having to do with race there is very rarely that one thing that someone can point to and say "That's racist!". It's death by a thousand cuts. A slip of the tongue here a lack of attention there. It adds up. It's real.

I've read comments from other agents on here stating that they haven't personally seen or dealt with that kind of thing before. Maybe that's true or maybe they aren't as attuned to it as I am. My wife is a minority and our kids are mixed so maybe my radar is up more than most because of that.

I don't want this giant block of text to serve as discouragement for anyone looking at buying or selling. God knows you've probably already dealt with this kind of shit in other aspects of your life. I just want other people to be aware that this is a problem that doesn't get the attention it deserves in this industry and that some of us know it actually happens.

If your landlord pays all of these things why would your name be on it at all?

If you're getting a discount tattoo it's....probably not worth getting at all.

edit: Alright I wasn't trying to be snobby about this. If you're going with a reputable artist at a solid shop I CAN see the appeal.

The New York Times says we are a land of contrasts.

Is there a good source of information about the RMZ that gives any detail about why it's not great other than it being part of ZAA? I've seen people say the Richmond Zoo is bad but never really give any explanation as to how they got there.

My mom has a membership because she lives down the road and loves going on walks since the hills are good exercise. We've gone once and my daughter was overjoyed at seeing all the animals. If I knew there was mistreatment of animals or something else that would give me pause I'd want to know about it so we wouldn't go back and I would tell my mom to give up her membership.

We live in the VCC area and I sometimes pull comps for our home. It's been nuts because I have very pessimistically priced out my own home in a sort of worst case scenario and it still comes up higher than I feel it should.

Real estate agents are kind of dumb trash and I am one so no they probably won't stop. The market is slowing and they know business is going to dry up so they're doing everything they can to pad their sales pipeline. It's going to get worse before it gets better.

The market does slow down around this time, but also consider a lot of sellers are staring down the barrel at the same interest rates buyers are. What incentive is there to move aside from changing jobs? Most people don't want to fuck with the market and are willing to let rates fall before they do anything again.

Also an agent. Outside of the city (an important perspective to have considering how unaffordable most of the city is for your average buyer) things are cooling off considerably depending on the area you're looking. I've seen A LOT of properties sitting for more than a week or two that would have been snatched up quickly just a few months ago. The rate hikes and price increases have eaten into everyones buying power a ton and the market is beginning to reflect that.

There are still hot spots here and there though. Short Pump is still sought after. Atlee and VCC are really starting to see a spike in demand. Some parts of Chesterfield are still pretty hot but down there it's very school district dependent.

> Well I thin the younger gens are a lot more dumber and have very little ambition to work for a living.

every single generation has said this about the subsequent generation since the dawn of time. It's bullshit.