Have you been the victim of discrimination while buying a home or getting a mortgage? And if you were, are you sure that you could tell?

There were nearly 29,000 complaints alleging housing discrimination in 2020, according to a 2021 report by the National Fair Housing Alliance. However, many more cases go unreported even over a half-century after the Fair Housing Act was passed to end housing discrimination.

“A lot of discrimination in the real estate sales market can be very subtle and many times undetectable,” says Steve Dane, a fair housing attorney and founder of Dane Law, based just outside of Toledo, OH. “A lot of consumers often don’t ever know they have been treated differently.”

The original federal Fair Housing Act was passed in 1968 to outlaw bias in the housing market against people based on race, color, religion, and national origin. Over the decades, sex (gender), familial status, and disability were added as protected classes. Under President Joe Biden, sexual orientation and gender identity now fall under the definition of “sex.”

The Fair Housing Act applies to all areas of housing, from renting to homebuying to selling a home, and to all the necessary requirements that go along with homebuying, including appraisals, getting a mortgage, homeowners insurance, zoning, and land use, as well as design and construction.

If you are shopping for a home and wonder if you have been treated differently because of your protected class, read on to learn to spot the signs of discrimination.

Discrimination with a smile

One type of discrimination that can be hard to identify is called “revolving door discrimination” —otherwise known as “discrimination with a smile,” according to Morgan Williams, general counsel for the National Fair Housing Alliance.

“That is where a housing service provider will work with the consumer in some sort of cursory fashion and then show them the door,” he said.

Refusing to sell to or otherwise deal with an interested buyer—which includes not returning calls or ignoring firm sales offers—is discrimination, according to the Fair Housing Act.

Some sellers and their agents may waive mortgage pre-approval letters from white or heterosexual couples but turn away prospective buyers of color or same-sex couples. Or sellers may want only to sell their homes to families who closely resemble theirs or those who celebrate the same religious holidays.

But it can be difficult for a consumer to know if he or she is being treated badly by someone who is providing bad service or being discriminated against because of something more nefarious.

“In itself, bad treatment isn’t discriminatory,” says Williams. “As someone who’s providing that to all of their consumers, in itself it is not a violation of the Fair Housing Act. However, if there’s a housing service provider providing service to white consumers, and limited or curtailed service to Black or Latino consumers, then that’s discrimination.”

Be on high alert for signs of steering

Homebuyers should be alert for signs of steering. That’s when someone is steered to or away from locations, homes, and even certain kinds of loans because they fall under one of the protected classes. This can affect which neighborhoods they’re shown homes in, or result in being offered more expensive or riskier mortgages.

One glaring red flag that you are being discriminated against is if a real estate agent is not following your directions, says Dane.

An example of that might be a Black homebuyer who is looking to buy in a neighborhood that is predominantly white. But the buyer’s real estate agent won’t show him or her any properties in that area even though the properties are within the buyer’s price range. Or the agent suggests the buyer would “be happier” in another community.

Mortgage discrimination happens, too

Discrimination in mortgage lending is another problem that still persists.

If you’re trying to get a mortgage, a lender may not offer you lower-cost loans that you’re eligible to receive or may offer you one with a higher mortgage interest rate. Or if a potential buyer is pregnant, a lender may unlawfully refuse to offer her a loan until she returns from maternity leave.

This can have big repercussions for homebuyers—as well as the nation. In the run-up to the Great Recession in the 2000s, many buyers of color were steered into subprime loans when some would have fared better with other more stable mortgages. The loans initially came with lower monthly payments that then ballooned in size over time. Borrowers couldn’t afford these higher payments, so they defaulted on their mortgages and their homes went into foreclosure—and that’s what helped to trigger the housing bust.

Watch out for appraisal discrimination

Artificially low appraisals have often hurt communities of color as much of Americans’ wealth is tied up in their homes. Biased appraisals hurt how much sellers make on the sales of their properties and hurt homeowners who try to refinance or tap into their home equity to cover an emergency.

Properties in predominantly Black communities are often undervalued by about 23% versus comparable properties in white communities, according to a 2018 study from the Brookings Institution, a think tank.

Biden’s administration is addressing the problem with the release of its PAVE Action Plan, which aims to end biased appraisals in a variety of ways.

“The appraisal industry has largely been free of the fair lending, fair housing scrutiny that was given to the lending and insurance industries over the past several decades,” says Williams. “Now, that same scrutiny is being applied to the appraisal industry—and with that, you’re seeing aggressive steps to provide oversight and put in place controls to address some of the identified bias.”

Report discrimination to your local fair housing agency

Identifying discrimination can be difficult, but there are things you can do as a consumer to uncover it.

First, do some research.

“As a consumer, you always want to educate yourself when you go out into the marketplace to engage in a commercial transaction, and in particular, learn what your rights are as a consumer,” says Dane.

You should also trust your intuition. Ask yourself, “Is there something about the behavior of the agent that is a little off or suspicious?” says Dane.

Then you can approach your local fair housing agency, which can help to investigate what’s going on.

“It’s a tremendous resource that exists across the country for consumers to have on hand to support them and their assertions around potential discrimination,” says Williams.

If there is no state or local fair housing center in your area, you can file a complaint on the National Fair Housing Alliance’s website.

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