Every Buyer, Every Seller, Every Time
Michelle and Jon Dubner are committed to Equal Housing Opportunity. What that means in practice, what we will not do, and how to report a concern.
The commitment
Michelle and Jon Dubner and Dubner Real Estate Group comply with the federal Fair Housing Act, the California Fair Employment and Housing Act, and the Unruh Civil Rights Act.
We do not discriminate, and we will not help anyone else discriminate, on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, ancestry, familial status, disability, medical condition, genetic information, military or veteran status, and, under California law, marital status, source of income, and age. California protects more than federal law does, and the extra categories are the ones people are most often surprised by.
What that looks like in practice
Most fair housing problems are not somebody being deliberately awful. They are ordinary habits nobody questions, so here is what we actually do.
We do not tell you where you would fit in. If you ask which neighborhood is right for your family, we will answer with lot sizes, school district boundaries, commute times, HOA dues and what your budget buys. We will not answer with who lives there. Steering is illegal even when the person doing it believes they are being helpful, and even when the buyer asked.
We do not grade schools. We will name the district and point you to the public data. School quality is a well-worn proxy for the demographics of a neighborhood, which is why we name and never rank.
We do not make safety claims. Not on this site, not in a showing, not in writing. Crime data is public and you can read it yourself. Our opinion about how safe a street feels is worth nothing and carries real legal weight, which is a bad combination.
Source of income counts. In California a Housing Choice Voucher is income. A seller may not refuse an offer because of it, and we will tell a seller so.
If you need an accommodation, ask. A reasonable accommodation or modification request is your right, not a favor. Tell us what you need and we will handle it with the other side.
If you are selling with us
Fair housing binds you too, through us. We will not pass along an instruction to exclude a buyer or a class of buyers, and we will tell you plainly if a request crosses that line. This is not us being difficult. Accepting that instruction would put your sale, your proceeds and your own liability at risk, and it is the kind of thing that surfaces years later.
We also write your listing copy to describe the property rather than the buyer. Not because a phrase like "perfect for a growing family" is offensive, but because it is a familial status preference in writing, and it narrows your buyer pool for no gain.
How we advertise
Every page and post on this site is checked automatically against a list of phrases that signal a preference for or against a protected class before it can publish. The standard is written down in the project and the check refuses to build if something slips through.
We do not use audience targeting on paid advertising that excludes or narrows by any protected class, including the proxies for them, such as ZIP code radius exclusions, age bands, or interest categories that stand in for national origin or religion.
If you think we got something wrong
Tell Michelle directly at 661-219-5517 or hello@dubnerrealestate.com. We would rather hear it from you and fix it.
You also have the right to go straight to a regulator, and you do not need our permission or our involvement to do it. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development takes complaints at hud.gov/fairhousing or 1-800-669-9777. The California Civil Rights Department takes them at calcivilrights.ca.gov.