How brokers can reach underserved communities

Today’s HousingWire Daily features a crossover episode with REAL Trending, a podcast that focuses on interviewing the brightest minds in real estate. In this episode, Tracey Velt, managing editor at REAL Trends, a HousingWire sister company, interviews Ryan Gorman, president and CEO of Coldwell Banker Real Estate, and Booker Pickett, broker, and owner of Coldwell Banker Pickett Fences. During the interview, the trio discuss the challenges and barriers facing minority brokers and a new program aimed at giving them a hand up.

Here is a small preview of the interview, which has been lightly edited for length and clarity:

Tracey Velt: I want to talk about homeownership barriers. I love that your mission to be a beacon of light and hope for those who dream of owning a home but don’t think homeownership is possible, and that you serve a lot of underserved communities. How did that mission come about and what is the culture of your brokerage?

Booker Pickett: I decided a long time ago that I would be a servant of my community. I would serve the community that raised me, and it takes a village. I would stay true to that community. I also wanted to do something to combat the barriers that people in my community were facing. For some people in underserved communities, they’re completely discouraged from even attempting to start the process of homeownership. I realized that a lot of this stems from decades of mistrust, exploration, redlining in these communities.

When I created Pickett Fences Realty, I wanted our mission to be something that would educate and inspire people in my community. We wanted to be that beacon of light and that hope for the underserved. We have our agents share stories to people that think they can’t buy homes, that think that homeownership is not for them. We use that as inspiration for those and for that next generation of buyers. It’s been working out pretty well for us.

HousingWire Daily examines the most compelling articles reported from the HousingWire newsroom. Each afternoon, we provide our listeners with a deeper look into the stories coming across our newsroom that are helping Move Markets Forward. Hosted by the HW team and produced by Alcynna Lloyd and Victoria Wickham.