Don’t Fall in Love with Love Letters BY BARRY S. GOODMAN, ESQ.
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t’s a hot market and there are multiple offers on properties, so what can your buyer do to make their offer stand out? Should your buyer submit a so-called “love letter” to the seller with personal information in order to make their offer more compelling? The seller wants as much information as possible before deciding which offer to accept, so should the seller consider love letters from buyers? And what policy should a broker have regarding love letters? Recently, love letters have become a more common practice. In a love letter the buyer may include that they can picture their children playing in the backyard; or write the house is perfect because it is so close to a church, synagogue or mosque; or say that she and her wife can see themselves relaxing in the family room. Although love letters seem harmless on the surface, it almost is inevitable that such love letters will include personal information that will allow the seller to determine if the
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buyer is in a class that is protected under the Fair Housing Act (FHA) or the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination (LAD). While the seller may not consciously discriminate against any potential buyer based upon such information, there always is the possibility that this information may affect the seller’s decision not to sell the property to a particular buyer. Of course, once the buyer has invested the emotional energy needed to provide a compelling love letter, the buyer has a vested interest in that home. It’s possible that if the buyer’s offer is not accepted, they may feel the seller was discriminating against them because of their protected status, and therefore file a discrimination complaint against the seller. The buyer would undoubtedly include the broker in the complaint. Under the FHA, it is unlawful to discriminate in the sale or leasing of dwellings based on race, color, religion, sex, familiar status, national origin or disability. However, the FHA generally does not apply to single-family houses that are sold or
