15 Things Your Realtor Can't (or Won't) Tell You

Hiring a real estate agent means getting someone on your side. A realtor’s job is to help you every step of the way through the home-buying (or selling) process.

Even the best real estate agents have limitations on what they can share, though. They aren’t likely to give you financial advice, such as ways to pay your mortgage.

If you’ve asked your agent a question and cannot get a straight response, it could be they aren’t legally allowed to answer. Here’s what your realtor isn’t allowed to share with you… or just won‘t.

It seems like such a logical, highly valuable question. However, most agents can’t share their opinion of the school district where you’re buying.

An agent may be willing to provide you with information on the public school test scores — if publicly accessible — but they can’t offer opinions or suggest which school has a good or bad reputation.

The quality of a neighborhood is very subjective and one that most real estate agents cannot touch. Opinions like that can sway your decision, which means you could blame the agent later if you don’t agree.

Most home buyers have this question, but agents are limited in how they can answer. They can provide facts, such as government statistics on crime rates in an area, but they cannot tell you if it is a “safe” community.

They can point you in the right direction to finding this information, though, like publicly available databases.

A “family-friendly” community may be something you want, or it may be something you want to avoid. In either case, the agent cannot tell you an answer to that question. 

That’s because (like many other topics here) it’s a protected bit of information called familial status, which the Fair Housing Act limits agents from sharing.

Whether you want to center your life around a religious organization or not, your agent can’t share information with you about the religious makeup of the community.

They can tell you where you can find specific religious organizations, but they cannot tell you that the area is a “heavily Catholic community” or “most people don’t follow a religion here.”

Another protected classification is race. Your real estate agent cannot tell you that the area is “mostly white” or “there are very few people of Hispanic background here.”

The racial makeup of a community may be available through the city’s website or Census Bureau information, but it’s up to you to find it.

While you can certainly drive around to check out how often people cut their grass or keep the hedges trimmed, asking your agent if it’s a “clean” neighborhood isn’t an easy question to answer for many reasons.

You may want to live in a community where people care for their property. But your agent can’t offer an opinion on this question.

That “any” could be anything that falls under these headings. Perhaps you don’t want to live next to someone of color, a specific religion, a specific lifestyle, or so on. 

No matter what you don’t want to do, real estate agents cannot steer you in any direction. 

Steering you means they cannot seek out a community to show you a home that’s specifically related to these types of inquiries. Even if they don’t outright say it, they cannot offer these types of recommendations.

Local officials can help you here since Megan’s Law requires all sex offenders to register their addresses.

While you can reach out to the local police or look for information online, don’t put it in your realtor's hands to tell you if someone with this type of background is present in an area where you’re planning to buy a home.

When listing a home for sale, you may have plenty of recommendations for what you want your real estate agent to add to the listing.

You’ve never had a break-in or any damage to your home. You may want the agent to let buyers know there are great families in the area with lots of kids. Or you may want the agent to list your home as surrounded by seniors.

But an agent is going to market your home based on professional knowledge and experience, not what you tell him to say about it. After all, that’s why you hire a realtor, right?

Many people want to be surrounded by others like them, whether that’s married or single individuals or those that follow a specific lifestyle.

The problem is that it’s a form of discrimination based on marital status, which your agent cannot perpetuate.

You certainly want some insight into what home prices in the area will do, but real estate agents don’t have a magic wand, and they cannot make statements like this. 

The reason is easy to see. If you buy a home anticipating the value to rise 10% in the coming years, and that doesn’t happen, you may try to blame the agent for your buying decision.

There are definitely areas in many communities that attract a very specific demographic, but your agent cannot recommend one area or another to a specific group of people.

He cannot advertise the house to, say, “up-and-coming young professionals” or people who work in the tech industry. That’s a form of discrimination against others.

Buying a home could be a good investment, especially if your home’s value increases over time and you build financial stability from that. 

Yet, your agent cannot tell you that buying a home is the “right” or “best” decision for your situation. 

Realtors also cannot tell you what to do with your money, including which loan is “best” for you or how to start investing. That’s up to you and your financial advisors to discuss.

Home buying is a very personal decision — we all want to avoid throwing money away — but it’s not a decision that people can share. 

While your real estate agent may have an opinion, they cannot know which is the best choice for you.

Your realtor should do everything possible to help you find or sell a great home. But, by law, there are some things your realtor can’t tell you. 

Being aware of these things puts you in a position to get ahead financially with a good investment. And given that a home is typically the largest investment you’ll make, you want to be an informed investor.