Legal & fair housing

The short version, in plain language. Effective September 25, 2026.

Who you're dealing with

Every page here belongs to the real estate agent and brokerage firm named on it, licensed in South Carolina. The brokerage supervises that agent's advertising, and a team advertises as “[team] Team at [brokerage].” The licensed agent is responsible for everything on their pages, including what Val says.

Equal Housing Opportunity

We are pledged to the letter and spirit of U.S. policy for the achievement of equal housing opportunity throughout the Nation. We encourage and support an affirmative advertising and marketing program in which there are no barriers to obtaining housing because of race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status, or national origin.

We follow the federal Fair Housing Act and the South Carolina Fair Housing Law, which protect those seven classes. The City of Charleston and the Town of Mount Pleasant also protect sexual orientation and gender identity (and Charleston, age), and the REALTOR® Code of Ethics covers sexual orientation and gender identity too. So we describe homes, never who should live in them; we don't characterize neighborhoods, schools or safety, and we point you to the public sources instead; and every home is marketed to every buyer. If you believe you've faced housing discrimination, you can file a complaint with HUD (1-800-669-9777) or the South Carolina Human Affairs Commission.

Val is an AI assistant

• Val is software, not a person and not a licensed agent. It says so when asked and never pretends otherwise. When the agent joins a chat, you'll see it.
• Val answers from the listing record, public county records, MLS data and what the agent has approved. It can still be wrong: check anything important with the agent.
• Val never gives a value for a home, never quotes an interest rate or a payment of its own, and never gives legal, tax or lending advice.
• Don't type Social Security, bank or card numbers into a chat or form. Nothing here needs them.

We're not a lender

The agents on these pages work in real estate, not lending. Nobody here — and not Val — quotes interest rates, APRs, loan terms or payments, takes loan applications, or tells you whether you'll qualify. Those come only from a licensed mortgage lender. The calculators run on the numbers you type, stay in your browser, and are estimates, not loan offers. If an agent introduces you to lenders, the choice is yours, and nobody here is paid for sending you to one.

Working with an agent in South Carolina

South Carolina requires a licensee to explain the brokerage relationships their firm offers at the first real conversation about buying or selling. Read the state's Disclosure of Real Estate Brokerage Relationships. In short: until you sign an agency agreement you're a customer, not a client; to be represented as a buyer you sign a written agreement; and commissions and fees are negotiable and not set by law. On a listing page, the listing agent works for the seller.

A price opinion from an agent is a broker's opinion of what a home could sell for. It is not an appraisal.

Calls, texts & email

• We call or text only a number you give us, after you agree on the form, and only between 8 a.m. and 9 p.m. your time. Texts are sent by a person, not an automated system.
• Say stop in any way — reply STOP to a text, tell the agent, or tell Val — and the calls and texts end.
• Every marketing email carries a postal address and a one-click unsubscribe that stops every email from Val.
• Reviews shown on a page are real, copied exactly with the client's permission, and a selection — the agent's full review page is linked when there is one.

Privacy

What you share goes to the agent and brokerage named on the page, and to the services that run this site. It is never sold. The details — what we collect, the cookies, email and retention — are in the privacy policy. The rules for agents who use AskVal are in the terms. These pages are meant for adults, not children.

Accessibility

We aim to meet WCAG 2.1 AA. If anything here is hard to use, tell Val, or leave a way to reach you in any form and say what you need — the agent will help you directly, the way you prefer.