You’ve done the heavy lifting. You staged the home until it looked like a page out of a magazine, you wrestled the sellers into a realistic price bracket, and you’ve finally sat down to upload the data to the Multiple Listing Service (MLS). You want to make it sound enticing. You want to create urgency. So, you start typing.
But before you hit “Submit,” pause.
Legal liability in MLS listing language usually stems from three specific areas: unintentional Fair Housing violations, material misrepresentation of physical assets (puffery vs. fraud), and intellectual property theft regarding photography. While you are focusing on marketing, a plaintiff’s attorney is looking for a slip-up.
Coming from a background in Egyptian real estate—where a man’s word is his bond and reputation in the local souq is everything—I learned early on that specific words carry weight. In the structured world of the MLS, that weight is measured in lawsuits. We often treat the “Public Remarks” section as a creative writing exercise, but legally, it is a disclosure of facts.
Here is how you can protect your license and your bank account by rethinking the way you describe a house.
Are You Accidentally Discriminating with Your “Perfect Family Home”?
It seems innocent enough. You walk into a house with a fenced yard, a swing set, and a playroom. Naturally, your instinct is to market this to the demographic most likely to buy it. You type, “Perfect setting for a family,” or “Great neighborhood for kids to play in safe streets,” or perhaps, “Walking distance to the local synagogue/church.”
You just stepped into a minefield.
Under the Fair Housing Act, you cannot express a preference, limitation, or discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status, or national origin. When you say a home is “perfect for families,” you are legally implying it is not perfect for single people, empty nesters, or childless couples. You are steering.
I have seen agents argue that they are just describing the amenities. But the law looks at the effect of the language, not just the intent. Even a phrase as common as “Bachelor Pad” or “Mother-in-law suite” is coming under scrutiny in various jurisdictions for implying gender or familial status preferences.
Instead of describing who should live there, describe the property. Don’t say “Great for families”; say “Features a fenced backyard and three bedrooms on the second level.” Let the buyer decide if that fits their family dynamic. You need to strip the people out of the description and focus entirely on the architecture and geography.
Did You Promise a “Brand New” Something That Isn’t?
We love adjectives. We love to hype up a property. In the bazaars of Cairo, negotiation is an art form, and hyperbole is expected. But on an MLS sheet, hyperbole is misrepresentation.
There is a very thin, jagged line between “puffery” (legal sales talk) and fraud. Puffery is a subjective opinion: “Stunning views,” “Breathtaking foyer,” or “Immaculate condition.” These are opinions. However, as soon as you move into quantifiable facts, you are on the hook for accuracy.
The most dangerous word in the English language for a Realtor is “New.”
If you write “New Roof,” that roof better be brand-new, with a warranty that transfers to the buyer. If the roof is four years old, and you call it “new” because it looks good, you have materially misrepresented the property. If a leak develops three months after closing, the buyer pulls the MLS sheet. There it is, in black and white: “New Roof.” You are now liable for the replacement because you made a warranty of condition that wasn’t true.
The same applies to square footage. If you type “2,500 square feet” without qualifying it, you are stating a fact. If an appraiser later measures 2,350 square feet, the buyer can sue for the value difference of that missing 150 square feet.
You can save yourself a massive headache by citing your source. Always use qualifiers. “Newer roof (2019)” is safe; “New roof” is risky. “Approx. 2,500 sq ft per tax records” shifts the liability to the source; “2,500 sq ft” keeps the liability on you. Never verify what you haven’t personally measured or have a receipt for.
Who Actually Owns Those Photos You Just Uploaded?
This is a liability that has exploded in the last few years, and it catches veteran agents off guard constantly.
Let’s say you take over an expired listing. The previous agent couldn’t sell it. You look at their listing and think, “Wow, they paid for professional photography, and those shots are gorgeous.” You download them, upload them to your new listing, and get to work.
You have just committed copyright infringement.
In most cases, the photographer owns the rights to the image, not the homeowner and certainly not the previous agent. The previous agent purchased a license to use those photos for the duration of their listing. That license does not transfer to you. There are law firms and “copyright trolls” who have built entire business models around scraping MLS data to find reused images. They will send you a demand letter for thousands of dollars per photo.
Even if the homeowner hands you a USB drive of photos and says, “Here, I paid for these,” you must be careful. Did they pay for the copyright or just the usage rights? Unless they have a written release from the photographer allowing transfer, you should not use them.
Always hire your own photographer or get written permission from the original creator. Using someone else’s visual assets to build your commission check is a shortcut that often ends in a settlement payout.
Are You Putting Your Seller’s Safety at Risk in the Remarks?
We often forget that the MLS is syndicated. When you hit submit, that data goes to Zillow, Redfin, Realtor.com, and thousands of rogue IDX sites. It is readable by anyone with an internet connection—not just buyers, but thieves.
I have seen agents write things like “Vacant and on lockbox, go direct,” or “Seller travels extensively, easy to show,” or “Great for a single female, very secure alarm system.”
You are broadcasting the vulnerability of the property and its owner. Signaling that a home is vacant creates a target for squatters and vandals. Mentioning the specific demographics of the owner (“single female”) is a massive safety violation. Even publishing the alarm code in the private remarks can be risky if that data is scraped or hacked.
You must balance accessibility with security. Keep the occupancy status vague in public remarks. Save the “vacant” talk for the secure showing service instructions that only verified licensees can see. If a crime occurs at the property and it can be traced back to your reckless disclosure of the owner’s schedule or the home’s vacancy, you could be facing a negligence claim.
How Honest Is Your Description of That “Cozy” Fixer-Upper?
There is a temptation to gloss over defects. We use code words. “Cozy” means small. “Charmer” means old. “Handyman Special” means it might fall.
While creative euphemisms are generally considered puffery, omitting known material defects is fraud. If you know the basement floods every spring, and you market the basement as “Ready to be finished for a recreation room!” without disclosing the water issue, you are actively deceiving the potential buyer.
In many states, the agent has a duty to disclose material facts that are known or should have been known. If you see water stains and smell mold but write “Immaculate condition,” you are failing your duty of reasonable care.
You don’t have to list every scratch in the marketing remarks—that is what the Seller’s Property Disclosure Statement is for. However, your marketing remarks cannot contradict the reality of the house. You cannot sell a “Maintenance-free lifestyle” on a home with a crumbling exterior. The listing description sets the expectation; if the reality is drastically different, you create a breeding ground for buyer remorse and legal action.
Protecting Your Business
The written word is permanent. Once that listing closes, the data is archived. It becomes a historical record of what you represented that property to be.
Before you publish your next listing, read your remarks through the eyes of a lawyer, not a salesperson. Ask yourself:
- Am I describing the people or the property?
- Can I prove every adjective I used (New, Updated, Remodeled)?
- Do I have the right to these photos?
- Am I revealing too much about the seller’s personal situation?
Real estate is a relationship business, but it is executed through contracts and disclosures. Your MLS remarks are the very first representation of that contract. Make sure they are as solid as the foundation of the house you are selling.
