So Pete’s a licenced Real Estate Agent...

[Tonyz]

Yes. It’s the Fair Housing Act. Not absurd ... a real thing that serves a purpose, look it up. Realtors cannot answer questions about demographics, crime, offer opinions about schools, etc.

Basically, realtors can give you lots of information about the actual home you are buying but you need to do your own legwork to research any neighborhood related details.

Hmm... ya learn something new every day.

 

[Lizgistix]

The bigger question I have is without the theme parks, why would anyone move to Orlando?

Because there are other industries in Orlando besides theme park. Or maybe they want to be closer to family. Or executive relocation. Or working at or attending a university. Or maybe someone in Kansas just heard about a county commissioner opening in Osceola county and that would be an excellent opportunity to advance their career.

 

[VandVsmama]

You know...you always have the option of NOT watching the show if it's bothersome.

 

[mamaofsix]

The only thing worrisome to me is that being a real estate agent is a pretty all encompassing career. I have family "in the business" and there's no way they would be able to run a travel empire as well as be a dedicated real estate agent. I just hope we don't see DIS content or video offerings suffer because he's too busy selling real estate to commit to the various shows and websites.

 

[TomorrowlandKD]

Nevermind Pete's real estate adventure...... Mickey's NSSHP are all cancelled!!!!!!!!

 

[disneysteve]

The only thing worrisome to me is that being a real estate agent is a pretty all encompassing career.

Just because he got his license doesn't necessarily mean he's planning to now spend his days showing and selling homes. Maybe he just got it to enable him to provide some support for Sean if needed.

Or maybe the past few months have shown him how the entire travel business can come crashing down overnight and he wants to be prepared with another line of work if travel doesn't ramp back up quickly.

Maybe there are other business reasons why it made sense for him to get licensed. None of us know nor should we unless he chooses to tell us.

 

[jcb]

Does that make sense? Do we have any realtors (or lawyers) here who can address this? @jcb is this in your wheelhouse?

Not even close. I know there are first amendment issues with limiting any speech, even by professionals, but states can regulate "speech" by professionals. For example, lawyers don't have an unfettered right to say nasty things about judges or other lawyers in court documents. And if you leave an ugly review about a lawyer on a review website, there are limits on what a lawyer can say.

I don't know what limits there are what a real estate profession can say so I'd rather not speculate, especially since we are talking about Pete, not Disney. Pete's done quite well for himself without me trying to tell him what to say or not say....

 

[disneysteve]

I don't know what limits there are what a real estate profession can say so I'd rather not speculate

Thanks, Jack. I had a feeling this wasn't your area of expertise.

 

[jcb]

Housing is not my area andI don't understand the question. I have absolutely no plan to ever live in Florida so (don't tell Pete) I don't watch that the moving to Florida show. I don't know what limitations he has said there are and I don't want to be perceived as contradicting him. I've found Pete is pretty well informed on most issues so without understanding what he has said, I don't want to speculate on the rules.

For those interested in the generic subject (free speech and the Fair Housing Act), HUD issued a notice in 2015 about the issue:
https://www.hud.gov/sites/documents/15-05FHEN.PDF

 

[GeneralTso]

Oh for the love of churros.

Let's just pick and dissect this thing to death! Doing a deep dive into HUD and housing standards is cracking me up.

It's a Disney board. Everything is gonna be OK. Pete isn't trying to ruin anybody's life.

 

[jcb]

pick and dissect this thing to death!

Come on General. You've been around long enough to know that the DISBoards exist so we can "pick and dissect" any subject to its death. Think of all the Smilies that would be wasted if we took a mature view of every issue:

 

[VandVsmama]

Come on General. You've been around long enough to know that the DISBoards exist so we can "pick and dissect" any subject to its death. Think of all the Smilies that would be wasted if we took a mature view of every issue:

That's for sure! Just go look at some of the threads on the Community board that have over a dozen pages all about people who don't put shopping carts away or several pages all about the name Karen.

 

[OKW Lover]

So now we’re down to pretty much nobody who can provide a full unbiased opinion on moving to Orlando. Highlighting the negatives of various areas gives good balance to the show, I’m kinda disappointed they’ve gone down that route.

But he's always been open and frank about his opinions on Disney despite owning a travel agency that that specializes in Disney.

 

[OKW Lover]

The bigger question I have is without the theme parks, why would anyone move to Orlando? That's a serious question. I get no snow, FL taxes, and halfway in between two coasts, but the pay in Florida isn't great, traffic is terrible, it's unbearable in the summer, and the bugs/alligators. It truly let's you know how important Disney is to the area.

For us, we retired and moved here from MA. Definitely enjoy living here. Traffic isn't an issue for us.

 

[OKW Lover]

Having read the full thread now, I see people are concerned that the realtor code of ethics might stifle Pete. I seriously don't believe that. It seems to me that Pete might be limited in what he can say if he is your realtor, or represents the other party in the sale. But if he is just on a podcast I don't think he's constrained about what he says.

 

[MarkE83]

Having read the full thread now, I see people are concerned that the realtor code of ethics might stifle Pete. I seriously don't believe that. It seems to me that Pete might be limited in what he can say if he is your realtor, or represents the other party in the sale. But if he is just on a podcast I don't think he's constrained about what he says.

He absolutely will be constrained - there were several times during the original run with Lord Voldemort where he who shall not be named couldn’t talk about various things.

That’s my only concern- it’s 110% a good thing that Pete’s expanding revenue streams, but I’m not sure he actually needed to become a realtor himself to do it. I guess none of us know his plans though, so we’ll just wait and see what happens.

 

[TomorrowlandKD]

Pete just said in the most recent livestream about reservation systems that he's "going to have to watch what he says now since he's a real estate agent". So, the OP is right.

But again, if you don't like it, don't watch it! There are plenty of other options out there. I personally have absolutely no interest in watching a guy named "Fiasco" try to talk to me about purchasing housing and spending money on DVC, but that's my opinion and it doesn't make it right or wrong. Different strokes for different folks. That's the beauty of life!

 

[disneyland_is_magic]

As usual there is a natural rush to come defend Pete and I don’t think it’s warranted. I think we are all just sort of curious how this changes things. Even Pete admitted he has to be careful.

There is a terminology in real estate called steering and he really can’t say anything that steers people to one neighborhood over another for any of the protected reasons. Even saying something by omission (saying positive things about one place) can be said to be steering. Highlighting the neighborhoods and showing the differences was the huge part of the concept of Moving to the Magic. I can totally see why they had to wipe the original version of the show. Now we are asking what direction is that channel going?

@disneysteve was asking with the role as OWNER of the content and real estate agent does it keep him from having guests or article contributors on MTO say the things he can’t like about the quality of schools. I have no idea! Here is a quote from an article that appears to be quoting the law directly though that would imply it affects all of that content on MTO and possibly any part of the business connected. I have put the quote in italics.

“The FHA makes it illegal for an agent “…to make, print, or publish, or cause to be made, printed, or published any notice, statement, or advertisement, with respect to the sale or rental of a dwelling that indicates any preference, limitation, or discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status, or national origin, or an intention to make any such preference, limitation, or discrimination. (See 42 U.S.C. § 3604(c))””

Is this article correct? I have no idea. Could someone say an area is family friendly, not very handicap accessible or LGBT friendly or not? Is that a problem now? Is it enough to put disclaimers everywhere? Well, we won’t know until someone with more expertise explains it to us but that seems to pretty significant.

Article: http://www.realestateindepth.com/le...-laws-steering-clear-of-potential-violations/

 

[disneyland_is_magic]

I am wondering about DVC real estate! Does this mean he can’t say something like “The Grand Floridan is not family friendly?!” (Even though this is a pretty widely accepted notion.) Does the above quote mean no one on his channel or site can say that?

Thinking specifically about “The DVC show” where they promote buying and renting points. Does it limit the reviews going forward?

 

[Lizgistix]

Having read the full thread now, I see people are concerned that the realtor code of ethics might stifle Pete. I seriously don't believe that. It seems to me that Pete might be limited in what he can say if he is your realtor, or represents the other party in the sale. But if he is just on a podcast I don't think he's constrained about what he says.

With Sean on the show, there were things he, as a realtor, could not say but since Pete wasn't a realtor, he could say it instead. Now neither of them can...