Is it legal to write a "love letter" to the seller in NY

[Jo W.]

Is it legal to write a "love letter" to the seller in NY?

Some people told me it's against housing discrimination laws...

[Kathy Marshall]

I just found out this is not legal in NY.  I don't know if it's legal anywhere in U.S.  I am one of two final bids for a house and I wrote a note for my agent to give the seller through their agent.  My agent said that is illegal and she could lose her license for sending it.  Sending a letter is a tip I have read/heard on BP, but my agent said the law against it was passed a few years ago.

[Russell Brazil]

It is not a matter of it being legal or illegal in itself. It is a matter that it could potentially lead to an illegal discrimination based on the information in the letter, or lead to the appearance of such. The letter will often reveal aspects about the potential buyer that may influence the seller to either like them more or dislike them more based on potential protected class status. 

Examples, the name of the person writing it will reveal their ancestry.  Or they may say, this is a great place to raise my kids. (Familial status discrimination)

NAR actually has a policy in place that if their members receive such letters with an offer, that they are not to be passed along to the seller due to the potential liability they may cause. A letter is not a part of the offer, so these can be withheld.

It is really important to for people to understand, that discrimination need not to have actually occurred for someone to feel like theyve been discriminated against.  You can do everything 100% correct, and someone can still file a fair housing complaint because they feel they were discriminated against. That is why it is imperative to always do everything by the book. Buyer letters are just a pandoras box.

[Mike Cumbie]

I just had written one the other day. There is no "law" that I am aware of, although it seems every other agent I meet seems to think the cops are showing up if you see one.

My stance. If it does not include Fair housing things and my client gives it to me I am passing it on. It is part of their offer and I don't get to just choose to withhold parts of an offer because some other agent thinks it's "illegal". If they offer 145,000 and a Jolly Rancher I am not allowed to just take the Jolly Rancher out of the offer. 

The letter we had explained how they had 2 other offers. One failed when the seller failed to find suitable housing. The other was a HUD and failed when HUD turned off the electric and the basement filled with water and they couldn't get them to turn it on. It explained How serious they were and how they were prepared to take the already existing FHA appraisal because it was within the time frame for a quick close.

The letter did not say If they were married, If they were a couple, If they had kids, their race or any other piece of Fair Housing information. It simply explained how serious they were and how they were ready to close. I knew the house had an offer that died at the closing table so I figured pushing that piece of information would help. 

It did. We had them kill an existing offer and take our pretty much identical offer. So can you write letters? Of course. Can you say "We are a young white couple who is straight with two kids who work as accountants and are devout Catholics? " No. But there is nothing wrong with explaining how serious you are as a buyer and how you will get this done.

Just my 2 cents

[Kathy Marshall]

Thanks for all the additional information.  Really good to know.