It's the Rule - November 2005 by: President & CEO Terese (Terry) Penza, CAE, RCE, e-Pro I recently read a report on the progress of the real estate industry and compliance with the Fair Housing laws. The first item stated that the National Association of REALTORS and is local and state associations have done a good job of offering excellent training however the members have not done a good job of carrying out the areas they have been trained. The second item shocked me -- that using "good" school districts "bad" school districts is the new way of steering! I hope you are not one of those people! If you are "rating" schools in the area, how are you making that determination? Is it factual information backed up by proven facts from reputable source or is it just "generally understood". Are you even sure what the person was really asking when you give out information? Let's say I am looking for property and I ask you is this a mixed neighborhood. What would be your answer? Would you start giving me stats on the different nationalities? Maybe, but that wasn't what I was asking. I'm single and wanted to know if there are other singles in the area. See -- you assumed you understood my question but you didn't have the facts. The State of Illinois Directs people to this link in order to view five years of Illinois Report Card data in a dynamic, easy-to-use, interactive format. In addition to providing academic performance information for all schools and districts in Illinois, the IIRC enables analysis of performance data, comparison of schools, and quick access to learning standards, test items, and other classroom resource. http://iirc.niu.edu/scripts/listall.asp?type=aexc Here is a link provided by the State of IL showing ACT scores by county/high school http://www.isbe.net/research/pdfs/ACT_0103.pdf Stay away from placing comments about schools in the remarks section of MLS and if someone asks about schools, direct them to the pages noted above. Finally, with the increase of complaints against real estate agents it is time to take another course on Fair Housing and walk into the class with an open mind -- don't assume you already know all the answers -- NONE OF US KNOWS ALL THE ANSWERS!