When you buy a home, you should expect fair treatment and consideration. However, discrimination still occurs. That is why there are fair housing laws in place.
Credit.org explains that fair housing laws help to protect your civil rights. The federal Fair Housing Act protects you against discrimination based on your sex, familial status, race, national origin, color, disability or religion.
Report issues
If you feel like someone is not treating you fairly due to a protected status under fair housing laws, then you can report it. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development or your state housing agency can take a complaint.
You will need to provide evidence for your claims. Some examples of situations where you may have a case include refusing to rent to you because you are not a certain race or giving you different mortgage requirements than other people for reasons not based on finances.
Spotting issues
You may be able to spot an issue if you notice a real estate agent not allowing you to see certain homes or directing you only to certain areas in which to buy. Sellers may outright state they do not want to sell to certain people based on protected statuses, such as race.
It is not always easy to know when discrimination occurs, and it can be more difficult to prove it. However, you should expect to have equal access to all properties. You also have the right to move wherever you want to and buy any home that you can afford. Blocking people from moving into neighborhoods was common decades ago, but there is no place for such behavior in the modern age.