The illegal conduct of contacting neighbors to suggest selling due to a new group home being opened nearby is known as:

• A. Block-busting.
• B. Steering.
• C. Redlining.
• D. Puffery.

Answer: (A)

Blockbusting is the illegal practice of trying to spur homeowners to sell by exploiting fears about neighborhood changes, such as the opening of a new group home. The idea is to create panic selling—suggesting values will drop or the area will change for the worse—so neighbors hurry to sell at lower prices for the agent’s benefit. This crosses into discrimination under the Fair Housing Act because it targets people based on changes in the neighborhood’s composition and uses that fear to manipulate the market. It’s not the same as steering (guiding buyers toward or away from areas for protected reasons), redlining (denying services in certain areas), or puffery (harmless exaggeration in marketing). The key point is that inducing sales through fear of demographic change is illegal and unethical.