Creating new paths to homeownership despite continued challenges for BIPOC Community

Homeownership is the largest single contributor to intergenerational wealth for American families. But it has not been – and still is not – accessible to all Americans on equal terms. 

An Agents of Color podcast recently addressed this topic, including the challenges faced by not only would-be homeowners who have traditionally been left out of the conversation but also those in the Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) community working in real estate. 

Our CEO, Niles Lichtenstein, spoke on the podcast alongside Chrissi Johnson, Founder/CEO of Alinement Advisors, and Jason Christie, Founder of Agents of Color, Principal of Polaris Homes, and Associate Broker at Serhant. The trio discussed historic redlining, the past practices of exclusion and discrimination by major real estate trade groups, challenges faced by BIPOC real estate agents today, and issues with the current appraisal system. 

Nestment is working to make it easier and safer to own a home through co-buying. Co-buying is a group of friends or family members pooling resources to buy a home together. 

Through their new online platform and supporting services, Nestment is helping more people become primed for home buying. As Millennials and the BIPOC demographics continue to grow, the ideas of what are considered house or home, and how you get there, continue to evolve. In response to these changing consumer demands, Nestment can position this new set of potential homeowners to   build wealth and community through cooperative economics. 

Nestment hopes to make co-buying a more seamless and sustainable path to home buying. The company prides itself on its user-centered platforms and prioritizes education in preparing for co-ownership.

While Nestment is making strides in forging new pathways for future homeowners, many areas of the existing homebuying system - or “the system” - are not quite ready. The current system was built  in a way that works well for some people, but not for most. Take redlining, for instance. Redlining was the practice of outlining areas with sizable Black populations in red ink on maps as a warning to mortgage lenders, real estate agents, and potential buyers - the effects of which still exist in communities today. While rules are now in place to protect consumers, there is still a lot of work that needs to be done not only to correct the destructive history of discriminatory real estate laws, but also protect future homebuyers from predatory actors who continue to try and take advantage of the system.

The podcast also discussed the continued challenges for BIPOC real estate agents. It wasn’t until 1964 that the National Association of Realtors (NAR) ended the exclusion of Black real estate agents. In 1968, the NAR still lobbied against the 1968 Fair Housing Act, a law to end housing discrimination. According to the New York Times, only six percent of real estate agents today are Black, and they continue to face discrimination and earn significantly less than their white counterparts.

While much work remains, companies and organizations like Nestment, Agents of Color, and Alinement are prioritizing collaboration and working together to find safe and affordable solutions to make homeownership accessible to not just some, but all who are ready to own a home.

Click here to listen to the full podcast.