HUD has charged a Bridgeport couple, Prudential Rubloff, Realtor Jeff Lowe, and his Lowe Group with violating the Fair Housing Act for refusing to sell a home listed for $1.799 million to a black couple because of their race.
The complaint (PDF) says Lowe and Daniel and Adrienne Sabbia stalled the sale of a single-family home at 3300 S Normal Ave in January after receiving a $1.7 million offer from comedian George Willborn and his wife Peytyn. The Willborns’ offer had been the highest submitted during the home’s two years on the market.
According to HUD and several other news sources, Lowe told investigators that his sellers preferred not to sell the home to African-Americans.
Crain’s and the Tribune have more.
Conlon Real Estate took over the listing from Lowe earlier this year. Conlon pulled the listing off the MLS today, but the property is still featured on the brokerage’s website.
Interesting house. Stands out a bit from the general neighborhood. A bit.
It will be interesting to see what comes out of this.
If the story is correct as presented in the media and the HUD complaint I’m not sure Lowe or Prudential acted with malice.
Once the owners refused to sign a contract Lowe should have done his best to get the owners to reconsider then sat on the listing while seeking legal advice. Taking the listing off the market was a short term mistake; although, I can understand the desire to run like hell from the owner clients.
Now Lowe and Prudential are looking at some big legal fees and loss to their reputations.
IrishPirate,
You’re clearly right about the legal fees.
I’d want to know a lot more, however, before concluding that Lowe did anything wrong, and I wouldn’t take what’s been reported at face value.
As to the house – from what I’ve seen it’s highly contextual in the area that the locals jokingly call “Bridgeport Heights.” There are a number of huge newer homes there.
Jeff Lowe is in serious trouble. He re-listed the property after having full knowledge of the seller’s racial bias. In effect, he condoned their views. He should lose his license!
Jeff was my agent and helped me find my first home. He was very professional and honest and certainly isn’t a racist. His 15yrs experience and 100+ million dollar worth of sales to every race in this city confirm this.