It’s no secret that today’s real estate market has created challenges for people looking to purchase a home, and a new trend, Buyer BrowsingTM, is making the purchase process even more difficult for qualified homebuyers.
In today’s age of the internet, it has become routine to look people up on social media platforms such as Facebook and LinkedIn—a practice that can often reveal much about a person’s family, job and personal life. Buyer BrowsingTM is a term coined to describe when sellers use online search engines and social media to examine the backgrounds and profiles of their various potential buyers. Through this process sellers can uncover personal information about the buyers and use that knowledge to determine which offer to accept.
While this practice may seem similar to other typical uses of social media, when this search occurs in the context of a real estate transaction it creates some serious ethical concerns. A seller’s decision about which offer to accept should be based on the merits of the offer, rather than the identity or characteristics of that buyer. When Buyer BrowsingTM reveals personal information, there is a likelihood that this knowledge could influence the seller to behave in an unfair or even discriminatory manner, whether that is based on a seller’s expressed preference toward one type of buyer or due to the subconscious impact of implicit biases their decision making.
No matter what their motivation is for engaging in Buyer BrowsingTM, this practice raises concerns about the equitability of the offer selection process. The first step to preventing Buyer BrowsingTM is to raise awareness about the potential harm that it causes. However, the prevalence Buyer BrowsingTM today still begs the question as to whether broader systemic changes are necessary to ensure all buyers are able to compete fairly in real estate.
