Woman’s Refusal To Sell Her Home To A Trump Supporter May Have Cost Her More Than $100,000

After placing her family home up for sale in March, a Sacramento woman put one stipulation on the buyer — they must not support President Donald Trump.

The unidentified seller switched real estate agents prior to the current sale, however the offer on the home is more than six figures under the asking price, leaving many to wonder if politics are to blame.

The Carmichael, California, home is temporarily off the market six months later due to a pending sale, but was originally listed for $625,000 in March of this year. According to SF Gate, who found the prices on a real estate website, the closing sale is only bringing the owner $495,000 for the two-bedroom, two-bath home.

The average home value in Carmichael, a suburb of Sacramento, California, is $407,200 per home. according to real estate listing site, Zillow. However, due to the wide range of population in California, homes range in price from $275,000 to over $1 million.

The woman currently selling the home enlisted real estate agent JaCi Wallace, who works for Re/Max Gold, to help sell the home. According to the Sacramento Bee, Wallace was not aware of the special stipulations regarding the sale of the home, saying “she’s just a seller and she asked me to sell it.”

The homeowner’s political home-selling policy eventually made headlines back in March when the seller, without publicly announcing her name, spoke during a video interview, according to SF Gate.

“When you are talking about principles, morals and ethics, it’s very, very deep,” the homeowner said during the interview.

After the interview, news outlets and the general public questioned whether the woman’s efforts to sell only to buyers aligning with her political views was legal. The woman’s original realtor, Elizabeth Weintraub, said it could be difficult to screen potential buyers on politics.

“We can ask somebody how they voted, but they don’t have to tell us.”

According to attorney Allen Sawyer, the homeowner’s request may be illegal. Discrimination based on political views is “an unlawful contractual term that infringes the freedom of association and First Amendment rights,” he said.

“People have a right to believe what they want to believe, and they shouldn’t be restricted from purchasing property based on that.”

The Fair Housing Act forbids home sellers from discriminating against potential buyers based on race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status or nationality, but says nothing about political preference.

Sawyer believes anyone should be able to purchase a home, no matter their political preference, but the homeowner’s preference may have just cost her over $100,000.