Q: I have a question regarding rejecting an otherwise qualified rental applicant based on their personality.

Recently, when showing the apartment, it quickly became apparent that this person was a difficult person and it would require extra time and money to satisfy her requests. I didn’t think it was good business to rent to this person but went ahead because I didn’t know if I was on solid legal grounds. This person was not a minority or in any other protected category.

Starting before move in and subsequently, my judgment has proven correct. Is it legal to reject someone based on personality and the expectation of trouble?

Q: What can a home seller do about a deadbeat real estate agent? Knowing we are in a buyer’s market, I signed a listing agreement with a high-profile agent professing to have great marketing skills and a fabulous sales record.What I wound up with was an agent who put up the for-sale sign, listed my home on the MLS and then disappeared. No communication, no updates about marketing, and more important, no showings. Can I cancel the listing contract with no penalty and list with a more-competent agent?

Suzanne Z.

Oakland

With all the dismal reports about the home real estate market, don’t lose track of something important: Mortgage interest rates have been falling quietly but steadily for weeks, and are now at their lowest level in half a year, barely a percentage point above 40-year lows.New mortgage applications are up sharply, the number of pending home sales is up, the national economy continues to expand moderately, and the rate of unemployment just declined again — to 4.6 percent.