Michigan Online Real Estate Continuing Education (con ed)

Various fair housing laws use the terms “handicap” and “disability” interchangeably. Disability is the preferred term when referring to this group. Federal law defines a person with a disability as: •  A person who has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major li...

The following disability-related laws apply to housing in Michigan: Fair Housing Act: The federal Fair Housing Act (Fair Housing Amendments Act of 1988, which became effective March 12, 1989) prohibits sellers or people in the real estate industry from discriminating against people because of the...

Every real estate professional should already know that the Fair Housing Act makes it unlawful to discriminate in housing on the basis of sex.  What many real estate professionals do not realize, however, is that that includes sexual harassment. In recent years, the United States Department of Ju...

Are there laws in the State of Michigan related to mold issues? It might seem surprising, but the State of Michigan does not have laws that require anyone to cleanup, remove, or report mold in any indoor environment.  Also, the State of Michigan does not have a program to address issues related t...

I was in the process of updating the online fair housing continuing education courses offered by my school (www.123ConEd.com), when I came across this recent Fair Housing Act case. Because Fair Housing is such an important topic, I thought that I'd post a summary of this case. On January 18, 2007...

Here is a summary of a case that was recently decided by the Michigan Court of Appeals relating to the liability of real estate professionals for representations made during the purchase/sale of a home. Stout v. Christina Withrow, Carol Williams-Nakoneczny and Century 21 Real Estate 217, No. 2716...

Here is a summary of a case that was decided several months ago by the Michigan Court of Appeals that concerns a lawsuit filed by a real estate assistant who was injured while showing a house.  Dyer v. Russell, No. 273574, 2007 WL 4415467 (Mich. Ct. App., decided December 18, 2007). Plaintiff Amy...

As a real estate professional, you need to be aware that there are "secret shoppers" scouting open houses and rental vacancies trying to catch real estate agents in a fair housing violation. Those "secret shoppers" are fair housing testers. Fair housing testing is an invaluable tool used in measu...

Each year, Michigan real estate professionals make dozens of phone calls to the Michigan Department of Labor & Economic Growth ("DLEG") requesting information about activities that an unlicensed individual may perform. In an effort to provide guidance and to help reduce a broker's exposure to pot...

I was in the process of updating the online fair housing continuing education courses offered by my school (www.123ConEd.com), when I came across this recent Fair Housing Act case.  Although this case was filed in Louisiana and not in Michigan, the case is still instructive for Michigan real esta...