The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has very strict guidelines against discrimination. You may not even think you are being discriminatory, but if language you use either in person or in print indicates that you are, you may be held liable. You may not say, “There are a lot of (insert name of ethnic group or age group) in this neighborhood, so you'll feel comfortable here.” You may not steer people to and from neighborhoods based on their similarities or differences with the other residents of the neighborhood.

It is possible to be brought up on discrimination charges if you treat one group of people “differently” from another. If, for example, you always offer coffee to people who come to your office but you fail to offer coffee to a person in a wheelchair, this may be considered discriminatory. If you immediately take out a couple who are of the same race to see property but only give a list of potential properties to a mixed race couple and let them drive around, this can be considered discriminatory as well.

To be sure that you are not acting in a discriminatory manner, you can learn more on the HUD Web site at www.hud.gov or by seeing if your office has a HUD guidelines handout.