StopWandering.com, a Web site now in beta, displays real estate listings in proximity to synagogues in the United States. Another site, ShalomHome.com, offers referrals to real estate professionals who offer to guide clients to synagogues and other resources in a community.
There are a range of faith-focused real estate sites on the Internet: MuslimRealEstate.com offers a "One Stop Shop" for Muslim real estate services, according to a Web site description, "From apartments to mansions to masjids (mosques)."
Other faith-based real estate sites include LDSRealtorOC.com, LDSAgents.com; the Christian Real Estate Network at HisMove.com; and Christian Real Estate Brokers Association at http://www.americanchristians.org/ChristianRealEstateBrokers.htm.
Meanwhile, religious preference was a topic in a legal case filed by a Chicago lawyers’ group against online classifieds and community site craigslist.org. The lawyers’ group, which alleged craigslist violated the federal Fair Housing Act, objected to the phrase "Catholic Church and beautiful Buddhist Temple within one block" in a post at the site as a sign of religious preference, for example, while craigslist viewed the example as "helping people zero in on properties most attractive to their preferences and no more implying exclusion than ‘elementary school within five minutes’ walk,’" according to an opinion issued by the U.S. Court of Appeals in that case. Craigslist ultimately prevailed in the case, as the court found craiglist was just a messenger and not liable for discriminatory posts by site users (see Inman News report).
