Your choice of 21 elective hours including required 3-hour Core and 6-hour Fair Housing courses
Our most popular package gives you total flexibility and gets you certified for all your required continuing education. This package includes the 3 clock hour Core Curriculum (required for every renewal) as well as the new 6 hour Fair Housing course (required to be completed by June 2023 for all brokers and managing brokers) and a host of elective courses to choose from. If you're renewing your license, this is the package for you.
In the new Core course you'll learn about the latest law changes affecting real estate as well as laws that are being considered by our Legislature in Washington. It's essential to get up to date on the changes to our industry and a required class for all brokers renewing their license. We have video segments throughout the Core class to highlight each of the sections important concepts.
Besides the Core and Fair Housing we have over 10 courses to choose from to fill out your elective credit hours. You can opt to take all the hours in one course, such as Law or Business Management, or you can choose to put together a package of shorter courses covering a variety of topics. The short courses cover everything from Listings, Property Management, or Contracts, to Negotiation and Agency Law.
Whatever you choose, we're confident you'll find our courses easy to use and a breeze to get your certification. Any difficulty, you have a support team and instructors ready to assist you.
Washington Real Estate Fair Housing (6 Hr) (6 hrs) and (CORE) Current Issues in Washington Residential Real Estate 2022-2023 (3 hrs) and your choice of:
Legal Framework
The Fair Housing Act of 1968 was the culmination of a movement to fight housing discrimination and was passed at President Johnson's urging, a week after Martin Luther King, Jr. was killed. Its core ban made it illegal to refuse to sell, rent, or negotiate with any individual on the basis that the individual falls within the protected classes. Civil rights activists had been pushing to quickly enact the fair housing legislation before the funeral of Dr. Martin Luther King, and after a short House hearing, it was passed and sent to President Lyndon B. Johnson for his signature on April 11, 1968.
The Fair Housing Act covers most housing. In very limited circumstances, the Act exempts owner-occupied buildings with no more than four units, single-family houses sold or rented by the owner without the use of an agent, and housing operated by religious organizations and private clubs that limit occupancy to members.
It is illegal discrimination to take any of the following actions because of race, color, religion, sex (including gender identity and sexual orientation), disability, familial status, or national origin:
Refuse to rent or sell housing
Refuse to negotiate for housing
Otherwise, make housing unavailable
Set different terms, conditions or privileges for the sale or rental of a dwelling
Provide a person with different housing services or facilities
Falsely deny that housing is available for inspection, sale or rental
Make, print or publish any notice, statement or advertisement with respect to the sale or rental of a dwelling that indicates any preference, limitation or discrimination
Impose different sales prices or rental charges for the sale or rental of a dwelling
Use different qualification criteria or applications, or sale or rental standards or procedures, such as income standards, application requirements, application fees, credit analyses, sale or rental approval procedures or other requirements
Evict a tenant or a tenant's guest
Harass a person
Fail or delay performance of maintenance or repairs
Limit privileges, services or facilities of a dwelling
Discourage the purchase or rental of a dwelling
Assign a person to a particular building or neighborhood or section of a building or neighborhood
For profit, persuade, or try to persuade, homeowners to sell their homes by suggesting that people of a particular protected characteristic are about to move into the neighborhood (blockbusting)
Refuse to provide or discriminate in the terms or conditions of homeowners insurance because of the race, color, religion, sex (including gender identity and sexual orientation), disability, familial status, or national origin of the owner and/or occupants of a dwelling
Deny access to or membership in any multiple listing service or real estate brokers' organization
It is illegal discrimination to take any of the following actions based on race, color, religion, sex (including gender identity and sexual orientation), disability, familial status, or national origin:
The Fair Housing Act makes it illegal to harass persons because of race, color, religion, sex (including gender identity and sexual orientation), disability, familial status, or national origin. Among other things, this forbids sexual harassment.
In addition, it is illegal discrimination to:
Publishers and advertisers are responsible under the Act for making, printing, or publishing an advertisement that violates the Act on its face. They should not publish or cause to be published an advertisement that on its face expresses a preference, limitation or discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status, or national origin. To the extent that either the Advertising Guidelines or the case law do not state that particular terms or phrases (or closely comparable terms) may violate the Act, a publisher is not liable under the Act for advertisements which, in the context of the usage in a particular advertisement, might indicate a preference, limitation or discrimination, but where such a preference is not readily apparent to an ordinary reader. Complaints are not accepted against publishers concerning advertisements where the language might or might not be viewed as being used in a discriminatory context.
For example, HUD staff should not accept a complaint against a newspaper for running an advertisement which includes the phrase female roommate wanted because the advertisement does not indicate whether the requirements for the shared living exception have been met. Publishers can rely on the representations of the individual placing the ad that shared living arrangements apply to the property in question. Anyone placing such advertisements, however, is responsible for satisfying the conditions for the exemption. Thus, an ad for a female roommate could result in liability for the person placing the ad if the housing being advertised is actually a separate dwelling unit without shared living spaces.
Real estate advertisements should state no discriminatory preference or limitation on account of race, color, or national origin. Use of words describing the housing, the current or potential residents, or the neighbors or neighborhood in racial or ethnic terms (i.e., white family home, no Irish) will create liability.
Advertisements should not contain an explicit preference, limitation or discrimination on account of religion (i.e., no Jews, Christian home). Advertisements which use the legal name of an entity which contains a religious reference (for example, Roselawn Catholic Home), or those which contain a religious symbol, (such as a cross), standing alone, may indicate a religious preference. However, if such an advertisement includes a disclaimer (such as the statement "This Home does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, handicap or familial status") it will not violate the Act.
Housing providers must make reasonable accommodations and allow reasonable modifications that may be necessary to allow persons with disabilities to enjoy their housing.
Certain multifamily housing must be accessible to persons with disabilities.
Housing discrimination can take many forms. Some examples of housing discrimination.
John, who is a Black man, speaks to a prospective landlord on the phone about leasing an apartment. On the phone, the landlord seems eager to rent to John, but when John meets with the landlord in person to fill out an application, the landlord's attitude is entirely different. A few days later, John receives a letter saying that his application was denied because of a negative reference from his current landlord. John is surprised because he never had problems with his landlord, and his landlord swears she was never contacted for a reference. John suspects that the real reason he was denied the apartment was that he is Black, so John files a complaint with HUD. HUD investigates and it turns out John is right - the landlord's files show a pattern of discrimination because of race and color.
Jane is a Muslim woman who wears a hijab. Jane walks into the leasing office for a large apartment building because she saw a sign in the building's window advertising several available units. Jane introduces herself to the leasing officer, who immediately says there are no units available. Jane asks to be put on the waiting list, but she never receives a call. Jane files a complaint with HUD because she suspects that the leasing officer does not want to rent to her because she is Muslim. HUD investigates and it turns out Jane is right - other employees of the building give HUD information that substantiates Jane's claim of religious discrimination.
John, who is an Asian man, meets with a real estate broker to discuss purchasing a house for his family. When John names the neighborhood that he is interested in, the broker asks John if he is sure that his family will feel comfortable there. The broker tells John that she has a wonderful listing in another neighborhood where there are more "people like them." When the broker takes John to see the house, John notices that the residents of the neighborhood appear to be mostly Asian. John files a complaint with HUD because steering someone to a certain neighborhood because of his race is a form of race discrimination.
Jane has a Housing Choice Voucher (Section 8), but after one month she falls behind on her portion of the rent. When Jane asks her landlord if he will give her a few more days, her landlord says yes but only if she will go out with him. Feeling she has no choice, Jane says yes. Over the next few days, Jane's landlord sends her sexually explicit text messages even though Jane tells him to stop. Jane's landlord tells her that if she does not go out with him again he is going to evict her and she will lose her voucher. Jane files a complaint with HUD because sexual harassment is a form of sex discrimination.
John, a person with a disability who uses a wheelchair, views a condominium he is hoping to purchase in a new multistory building. When John arrives, he finds there are no accessible parking spaces in the building's parking lot. When John tries to enter the unit, his wheelchair can barely fit through the door and he bangs his arms on the way in. Inside the unit, the thermostat and light switches are all too high for him to reach. The building has a fitness room, but he cannot look at it because the only way to get to the fitness room is to go up steps. John files a complaint with HUD because failing to comply with accessibility requirements is a form of disability discrimination.
Jane has a developmental disability that affects her capacity to manage her own finances. Jane tells her building manager that her mother will be paying her rent for this reason and asks if all notices relating to her rent can be sent to her mother. The building manager tells Jane that the management company has a policy of only sending notices to residents, with no exceptions. Several months later, Jane receives an eviction notice because her mother had not known that Jane's rent had been increased. Jane files a complaint with HUD because denying a reasonable accommodation is a form of disability discrimination.
John has three teenage children. John's building has a patio with picnic tables, and one day John's children decide to have lunch there with some of their friends. The next day, John receives a notice from the homeowners association informing him that the building rules say that the patio is for adult use only and that he needs to make sure his children do not violate the building rules. John files a complaint with HUD because building rules that discriminate against children are a form of familial status discrimination.
Jane and John are filling out an application for a mortgage at their local bank. Their loan officer notices that Jane is visibly pregnant and asks whether she will be taking maternity leave. When Jane says yes, the loan officer informs the couple that they either have to apply without Jane’s income or wait until she returns from leave. “I’m sorry,” the loan officer says, “but I’ve seen too many women change their mind about going back to work.” Jane and John file a complaint with HUD because the bank’s policy discriminates based on sex (including gender identity and sexual orientation) and familial status.
John recently moved to the United States from Mexico. One day, John sees that there is a new tenant in the apartment next to his, so he welcomes her to the building. John’s neighbor comments on how nice everyone in the building seems, especially the building manager who offered to waive her security deposit because she seems like a good person. John is surprised because the building manager was short-tempered with him and said that John’s accent made him hard to understand. John later asks around and finds out that the building manager has waived fees and deposits for other tenants he likes, but not for him or other persons from Mexico. John files a complaint with HUD because providing different terms and conditions to tenants because of national origin is illegal discrimination.
Washington’s primary discrimination law is RCW 49.60.222, titled: Unfair practices with respect to real estate transactions, facilities, or services. The protected classes are: sex, marital status, sexual orientation, race, creed, color, national origin, citizenship or immigration status, families with children status, honourably discharged veteran or military status, and the presence of any sensory, mental, or physical disability, or the use of a trained dog guide or service animal by a person with disability sex, marital status, sexual orientation, race, creed, color, national origin, citizenship or immigration status, families with children status, honourably discharged veteran or military status, the presence of any sensory, mental, or physical disability, or the use of a trained dog guide or service animal by a person with a disability.
There are a number of activities which are forbidden specifically including:
To refuse to engage in a real estate transaction.
To discriminate against a person in the terms, conditions, or privileges of a real estate transaction or in the furnishing of real estate facilities or services.
To refuse to receive or to fail to transmit a bona fide offer to engage in a real estate transaction,
To refuse to negotiate for a real estate transaction.
To represent that real property is not available for inspection, sale, rental, or lease when it is, or to fail to bring a property listing to their attention, or to refuse to allow them to inspect a property;
To discriminate in the sale or rental, or make unavailable to any person; or to a person residing in or intending to live in a property after it’s sold, rented, or made available; or to any person associated with the person buying or renting.
To make, print, circulate, post, or mail, hire to be published a statement, advertisement, or sign, or application for a real estate transaction, or to make an inquiry in connection with a prospective real estate transaction, which indicates, directly or indirectly, an intent to make a limitation, specification, or discrimination related to the transaction.
To offer, solicit, accept, use, or retain a listing of real property with the understanding that a person may be discriminated against in a real estate transaction or when providing facilities or services.
To evict a person from a property.
To discriminate in the course of negotiating, executing, or financing a real estate transaction whether by a mortgage, deed of trust, contract, or other instrument imposing a lien or other security in real property, or in negotiating or executing any item or service, including the issuance of title insurance, mortgage insurance, loan guarantee, or other aspects of the transaction.
Answering any information regarding demographics can raise potential fair housing issues later on. To be on the safe side, give your clients resources so they can access demographic information on their own. A lot of information is available by phone or on the Internet. If your client doesn't have access to the Internet, let them know they can access it at their local library.
Answer your client's question and tell the buyer how prices are trending in that area. You have access to information that shows what comparable homes are going for, and that information doesn't involve any fair housing issues.
During a 3-day neighborhood review (a period where a buyer can back out of an offer if there is something they do not like about the neighborhood), your client wants to make sure this huge investment is the right one. If you want to provide a professional service that stands out from the rest, prepare a resource packet that provides a list of online resources or telephone numbers for law enforcement agencies, schools, transportation services, census data, etc., for your local area. Your clients can do whatever homework they choose, and you don't have to worry about any potential fair housing implications.
Responding to someone who asks you where Chinatown is located (also known as the International District in Seattle) does not violate fair housing laws.
Consider a slightly different situation - say you receive an out-of-town call from a Chinese prospect and you only show them available units in Chinatown or areas you believe have a higher number of Chinese residents. That would be "steering" based on your client's protected class and would be a violation of fair housing laws.