Where this fits on the exam
| Official syllabus topic | Steering, Blockbusting, Redlining, and Disparate Treatment |
|---|---|
| Official PSI area | Practice of Real Estate |
| Published area weight | 12% of the national portion |
| Exam portion | National salesperson portion |
| Source edition | PSI Georgia Candidate Information Bulletin dated July 1, 2026 |
The Rule
PSI publishes the weight for the complete content area, not a fixed question count for this lesson. Learn the rule well enough to apply it when PSI changes names, numbers, or parties in a new scenario.
The lesson
Sexual orientation and gender identity
PSI explicitly includes protection involving sexual orientation and gender identity in the national outline. The Fair Housing Act names sex as a protected class, while current statutes, controlling court decisions, agency rules, and state or local law determine how a particular claim is analyzed. For exam purposes, a licensee must provide the same housing service and must not restrict choices because a person is gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, or perceived to be so.
Steering
A housing professional cannot select neighborhoods for a person because of race, religion, national origin, familial status, disability, sex, or other protected status. Use the consumer's stated, lawful property criteria and neutral resources.
Blockbusting
A person cannot generate listings or sales by warning owners that protected-class entry will lower values, increase crime, or change the neighborhood.
Redlining
Lenders, insurers, appraisers, and housing providers cannot draw service boundaries or alter availability and terms based on protected demographics rather than legitimate risk factors.
Disparate treatment and impact
Disparate treatment is intentional different treatment. A facially neutral policy can also create unlawful discriminatory effects under the governing legal standard, even without explicit slurs.
Decision rule
Georgia-specific distinction
Worked example
Scenario. An agent removes homes from a buyer's search in neighborhoods where most residents have a different national origin, without asking the buyer.
Reason it through. The agent altered housing choices using a protected characteristic rather than the buyer's neutral criteria.
Answer. This is steering even if the agent claims benevolent intent.
Common exam traps
- Thinking good intent excuses steering
- Limiting redlining to literal maps
- Using school or crime talk as demographic code
- Applying unequal standards without documentation
Original practice questions with detailed explanations
These questions were written for instruction and mapped to the current outline. They are not copied from PSI or any live examination. Choose an answer before opening the explanation.
Question 1An agent refuses to show an available home to a transgender buyer because the agent believes the seller would object. What should the agent do?
- A. Provide the same service and show the home if it meets the buyer's criteria
- B. Ask the seller for permission before scheduling the showing
- C. Refer the buyer elsewhere without explaining why
- D. Show only homes where the agent expects no objection
Show answer and explanation →
Answer: A. Provide the same service and show the home if it meets the buyer's criteria
The PSI national outline includes protection involving gender identity. For this exam scenario, provide equal service based on the buyer's property criteria. A seller's anticipated objection does not justify withholding service or restricting the search. Statutes, controlling decisions, and applicable state or local law govern a real legal claim.
- A. Correct. Equal service means using the buyer's property criteria, including for the gender-identity scenario named in the PSI outline.
- B. Incorrect. Seeking seller permission to serve this buyer would impose a discriminatory barrier.
- C. Incorrect. A referral motivated by the same discriminatory concern does not provide equal service.
- D. Incorrect. Selecting homes based on expected discriminatory reactions improperly narrows the buyer's options.
Question 2An agent mails flyers telling homeowners that families of a certain national origin are moving in, that prices will soon fall, and that they should list now. What practice is this?
- A. Steering
- B. Redlining
- C. Disparate impact
- D. Blockbusting
Show answer and explanation →
Answer: D. Blockbusting
Blockbusting induces owners to sell by suggesting that protected-class entry will change values or the neighborhood. Steering is wrong because steering guides a buyer's or renter's choice rather than soliciting listings through fear.
- A. Incorrect. Steering directs a buyer or renter's search; these flyers try to induce owners to sell.
- B. Incorrect. Redlining restricts services based on an area's protected-class composition; these flyers solicit sales through fear.
- C. Incorrect. Disparate impact concerns a facially neutral practice with discriminatory effects, rather than these explicit statements.
- D. Correct. Using national-origin fears and predicted price loss to obtain listings is blockbusting.
Question 3A Jewish buyer asks to see homes in three suburbs. The agent shows homes in only one, saying the buyer will feel more at home near neighbors of the same faith. What is this?
- A. Blockbusting
- B. Steering
- C. Redlining
- D. Lawful buyer guidance
Show answer and explanation →
Answer: B. Steering
Steering directs a consumer toward or away from areas because of a protected characteristic, here religion. Calling it lawful guidance is the trap: the agent must work from the buyer's stated criteria, not assumptions about who belongs where.
- A. Incorrect. The agent is guiding the buyer's search, rather than using neighborhood-change fears to obtain listings.
- B. Correct. Restricting the search because of religion is steering even if described as helpful.
- C. Incorrect. Redlining restricts services based on an area's characteristics; this act directs an individual buyer's choices.
- D. Incorrect. The buyer requested three suburbs; the agent's religious assumption is not a lawful replacement for those criteria.
Question 4An apartment complex's written policy requires a credit check for every applicant, but the leasing agent runs checks only on applicants of one race. What is the violation?
- A. Redlining
- B. Blockbusting
- C. Disparate treatment
- D. None, since the written rule is neutral
Show answer and explanation →
Answer: C. Disparate treatment
Disparate treatment is applying different rules or service because of a protected characteristic, and it can happen even when the written policy is neutral. Redlining looks plausible, but it means denying or restricting services because of an area's demographics.
- A. Incorrect. No geographic service restriction based on neighborhood composition is described.
- B. Incorrect. The agent is not inducing owners to sell through fears about incoming residents.
- C. Correct. Checking only applicants of one race treats comparable applicants differently because of race.
- D. Incorrect. A neutral written policy does not excuse discriminatory administration of that policy.
Ready to move on?
You are ready for the next lesson when all of these are true.
- Separate steering, blockbusting, redlining, and disparate treatment from memory.
- Explain why good intentions do not excuse steering.
- Apply equal-service principles to sexual orientation and gender identity scenarios.
- Identify the actor, protected basis, housing action, and unequal treatment in a new fact pattern.
- Answer all four questions correctly and explain why each rejected option describes a different rule.
- Revisit the topic later in mixed practice without category labels.
Recommended next lesson
Continue with Fair Housing Advertising, ADA Access, Accommodation, and Modification. Fair Housing Advertising, ADA Access, Accommodation, and Modification carries these same prohibited preferences into ad wording and audience targeting, then separates accommodations to rules from modifications to premises.
Return to the Practice of Real Estate hub to see every official branch and the complete lesson sequence for this content area.