How can contracts be anonymous?

[Steve K.]

3 times in just the past week I’ve witnessed sellers discriminate against buyers because of either race or sex. Humans simply can’t be trusted not to discriminate if given the chance. We’ve put laws in place to make discrimination illegal and have gotten rid of “love letters” already but when the name of the buyer is on the contract, it’s still too easy for sellers to discriminate, and too hard to enforce. How can we make contracts anonymous to limit this behavior?

[Steve K.]

Quote from @Scott Johnson:

A purchase contract is between a buyer and a seller (realtors are only a footnote that states who the realtor is that's representing each person, if there is one at all). If one party doesn't know who the other person is, there's no contract because "who's the contract with"?

We as Realtors are loyal to our clients, treat all parties fairly and act as a liaison between the two. It is illegal for us to tamper with contracts, as that is the practice of law. Only the two parties or an attorney (with their approval) can amend the contracts.

I understand what you're saying, but what I'm hearing is, "How can I fix this thing that's not broken". There's a sucker born every 5 minutes, so let them be a sucker, drop them, and remove yourself from any chance of being liable for their actions.

I may be wrong, but it sounds like you need more leads. Some new investors cling to a deal to try to make it work when leads are scarce, when in reality they just need more leads to move through the chaff. This sounds like a similar situation.

Hope this helps!

I'm not suggesting that agents or anyone else tamper with contracts, but rather that the contract-writing and presenting system itself be adjusted somehow so that the names are hidden prior to offer acceptance. Most agents are using CTM e-contracts,  Docu-sign or similar electronic contract systems and it seems like the software could be coded not to disclose the buyer's name until acceptance rather easily. I haven't worked out all the details obviously, just thinking out loud here basically and looking for feedback, so thanks for chiming in. 

I can see why you would think the system is not broken. I haven't experienced much discrimination myself either personally in my life. But why would I? I'm not in a race or of a class or gender that is often discriminated against. You and I don't live in a world where we have to worry about whether or not having our name on a contract will be a factor in having it accepted or not. However it's been made abundantly clear to me recently that it's clearly a problem and that those with "non-American" or minority-sounding names do live in a very different world from you and I. They do need to think about being discriminated against because it does happen more commonly than it should. I feel bad for the people who I know were discriminated against, so I do have empathy for them and wish to help. 

As far as your assumption on my lead pipeline... not sure how that is relevant here except maybe you're implying this is a sour-grapes thing?  I'm not going to get into the details of each situation on here but I can tell you that isn't accurate. These were blatant cases of discrimination that no one is denying. I'm not desperate for leads in any way either, just for the record. In fact I'm too busy for my preferred work-life balance currently, and am on pace to hit my sales goals for the whole year in April. I wasn't even representing the person being discriminated against in one of the situations so this isn't a case of me making excuses for losing a deal or crying over spilled milk...  I just think discrimination based on race or gender is wrong and having witnessed it 3 times recently, I wonder what else can be done to prevent it. I've thought about writing contracts in my name and then assigning them to my clients but that's obviously not a perfect solution for many reasons. I realize that the idea I'm floating here of somehow making contracts anonymous until acceptance isn't perfect either, and would require some major changes to the way we do things currently... 

Anyone have any better solutions in mind? What are others doing to prevent buyers being discriminated against based on their names?