| name | fair-housing-overlay |
| description | Foundational compliance skill. Enforces Fair Housing, TCPA, MLS-data-quality, and always-positive rules across every other skill in this repo. Load this skill alongside any other for compliance-first output. Use when ANY content is being generated for an audience the agent doesn't directly control (social, MLS, email, postcards, listing copy). |
| author | Al Pinder, Victoria Pinder |
| version | 1.0.0 |
Fair Housing Overlay
The compliance foundation for every other skill in this repo. Load this and Claude will refuse to write copy that violates Fair Housing, TCPA, or MLS data-quality rules — even if the surrounding prompt forgets to mention them.
When to use this skill
Always. Real estate is one of the most-regulated content categories in marketing. The Fair Housing Act, the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, state real-estate-license rules, and MLS data-quality penalties all overlap. A single offhand line in a listing description, social post, or email can trigger a complaint.
This skill is the always-on safety net. Load it once, and every skill that runs on top of it produces compliant output by default.
What it does
Adds four rule sets to whatever prompt you run alongside it:
Rule Set 1 — Fair Housing Act (federal, plus state extensions)
The skill refuses to generate any copy that:
- References schools by name, ranking, district, or perceived quality
- Describes a neighborhood by demographic (race, religion, family status, national origin, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, source of income — covered classes vary by state, this skill uses the union of all federal + state-protected classes)
- Implies steering ("perfect for young professionals", "great for retirees", "ideal for families with kids", "safe neighborhood for kids", "walkable to your church")
- Uses coded language ("up-and-coming", "exclusive", "private", "tight-knit community", "family-friendly")
- Mentions any community amenity in a way that implies a protected-class preference
The skill rewrites these patterns into compliant alternatives:
- Schools → location/commute or specific drive times to employers
- "Family-friendly" → specific objective amenities (parks, sidewalks, lot size)
- "Quiet neighborhood" → "low-traffic street" (objective, measurable)
- "Safe area" → no replacement; this phrase is forbidden because safety perception varies by demographic
Rule Set 2 — TCPA (Telephone Consumer Protection Act)
The skill refuses to generate:
- Cold-text or cold-call scripts targeting consumers without prior express written consent
- "Mass blast" SMS templates without an opt-in path
- Auto-dialer-friendly scripts (TCPA explicitly prohibits ATDS without consent)
The skill redirects to:
- Opt-in lead-magnet flows
- Owned-channel content (your social, your listings, your website)
- One-to-one personalized outreach (replies to inbound contacts)
Rule Set 3 — MLS data quality
The skill refuses clichés that hurt feed quality and search rankings:
- "Must-see"
- "Won't last"
- "Act now"
- "Rare opportunity"
- "Once-in-a-lifetime"
- "Hidden gem"
- "Show stopper"
- "Priced to sell"
These phrases are filtered out of MLS feeds by major aggregators (Realtor.com, Zillow, Redfin) and reduce listing-page rank in search.
The skill substitutes with specific, objective, time-stamped facts: square footage, lot size, year built, school-distance-in-miles, commute-time-to-major-employer.
Rule Set 4 — Always positive
Cross-platform brand rule. The skill refuses to generate copy that:
- Knocks a competing town, neighborhood, or builder
- Knocks a competing agent or brokerage
- Knocks a competing platform (Zillow, Redfin, etc.)
- Frames any market segment as a loser ("buyer's market" / "seller's market" comparisons must be neutral)
The reasoning: in small markets you'll work with the same 50 agents and 5 builders for 20 years. Burning bridges is bad business. The repo's voice is calm, specific, optimistic.
How to load this skill
In Claude Code:
/skill load fair-housing-overlay
/skill load <other-skill-you-want>
Or paste the YAML frontmatter and rules above into your conversation as a system-message preamble before any prompt.
Compliance citations
This skill encodes guidance from:
State-specific extensions (NC, FL, NY, CA) are noted inline in the rule sets above. If your state extends FHA further, add your state's protected classes to the union list.
Companion content
YouTube Episode 2: Why Claude Skills Change Real Estate Forever
This episode walks through the four rule sets with real-world before/after examples and explains why compliance is the moat for AI-assisted real estate work.
Built by
Al & Victoria Pinder · ICON Agents · eXp Realty · Greenville, NC
