Her First Place

By J. René Walker and Robert Reffkin

Get a Place of Your Own

Are you tired of throwing your money away renting? Did your landlord put a wrench in your plan to paint the bedroom wall a fashionable bluish-purple? Has the landlord notified you that the rent is going up at the end of the lease? Did you have to give away Fluffy because of the no-pet po

• Language: English
• Publisher: Her First Place, Inc
• Release date: Jan 6, 2023
• ISBN: 9781088081273

Book preview

HER FIRST PLACE

THE BLACK WOMAN’S GUIDE TO BUILDING GENERATIONAL WEALTH AS A FIRST-TIME HOME BUYER

J. RENÉ WALKER

Foreword by

ROBERT REFFKIN

CONTENTS

Foreword

Prologue

Introduction

1. Dear Sis

2. My Story

3. A Little History on Black Homeownership

4. A Dozen+ Reasons to Buy Real Estate

Getting Started

5. Mindset

6. Get Your Money Right

7. Forever Place or Right Now Palace

8. Find a Real Estate Agent

9. House Hunting

Finalizing Your Purchase

10. Making an Offer

11. Check the Bones and Get an Appraisal

12. Closing

I Own it, Now What?

13. Homework

14. Passing on Generational Wealth

15. Conclusion

Glossary

Moving Must-dos

Her First Place, Inc.

Acknowledgments

About the Author

Other Books by Difference Press

Gift for Readers

Difference Press

Washington, DC, USA

Copyright © J. René Walker, 2022

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the author. Reviewers may quote brief passages in reviews.

Published 2022

No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, mechanical or electronic, including photocopying or recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, or transmitted by email without permission in writing from the author.

Neither the author nor the publisher assumes any responsibility for errors, omissions, or contrary interpretations of the subject matter herein. Any perceived slight of any individual or organization is purely unintentional.

Brand and product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.

Cover Design: Jennifer Stimson

Photo: Felicia Reed Photography

Editor: Erika Roman Saint-Pierre

To my parents,

I miss you every day. Thank you for believing in me. I look forward to the day we meet again.

To my sisters,

Home is wherever you are.

FOREWORD

The first woman I saw work hard in real estate was my mom. She inspired me to create the number one brokerage in the nation that is truly agent centric.

As the founder and CEO at Compass Real Estate, I see women at every level of our company who make a difference every day. 

Our Texas broker of record, J. René Walker, is no different. I first met her several years ago, when I dropped in on an Austin, TX sales meeting. She was presenting and had captured the audience. I remember how passionate she was, I said to myself, What a gift, and how lucky I was she worked for Compass.

Her passion for this industry is displayed in this book. She believes in our mission to help everyone find their place in the world. She especially believes that home ownership for young Black women will make a significant difference in bridging the wealth gap for Black Americans.

In Her First Place, you will see her teaching background displayed as she walks you through the home buying process step by step. Her thought process is easy to follow. She is completely transparent and shares with you the good, the bad, and the ugly. I love that she tells her story and her truth of purchasing homes and helping thousands of others become homeowners. This is a first-hand guide written by an experienced Black woman for other Black women.

If you're looking to join a community of other first-time home buyers, J. René has created a website, just for you, HerFirstPlace.com. And if you can use a little help purchasing that first home, J. René has launched the Her First Place foundation, providing down payment grants to help women like you buy their first home. All author proceeds from Her First Place are being donated to the foundation to help young Black women realize their dreams of home ownership. 

I could not be prouder of this accomplishment. It is a labor of love. I am equally proud to have J. René on the Compass team. Wishing you the best of luck on your home buying journey.

ROBERT REFFKIN, FOUNDER & CEO AT COMPASS

PROLOGUE

Prior to my parents immigrating to the United States from Jamaica in the 1980s, America was purely conceptual, a hazy figment of picturesque ideals. They had been force fed only the best images of America via western media, quaint suburbia, and white picket fences – idyllic nuclear families. Upon arrival, they were shocked and disillusioned – there were pockets of poverty, homelessness, and segregation. Nonetheless, they worked tirelessly to make the elusive American dream a tangible reality, primarily through the means of purchasing their first home. 

The home was a modest two-story suburban structure with a sloping archway and a large backyard. It was a universal stamp of approval on the vague concept of making it in America. But the acquisition of this home didn't come easily. My parents were Black immigrants, their accents still thick, home searching in the suburbs of Boston in the 1980s. Many realtors refused to show them homes or shuffled them to blacker and poorer neighborhoods, and sabotaged offers they submitted, despite meeting impossibly high qualifying standards. But in the end, they purchased their first home on the ironically named Bittersweet Road.

The concept of a home is so much more than an investment vehicle, which it is often reduced to. Of course, it is the primary way in which Americans build and retain wealth over generations, and this book will explore that at length. But I grew up in that house, my parents still live there today, and the benefits of owning that home are so much more intangible. 

My parents were entrepreneurs. They started their own commercial cleaning business that became surprisingly successful. But, in the first years of the business, my father couldn’t afford a separate office space. Therefore, our downstairs was converted into a makeshift office, and our garage stored the massive cleaning equipment essential to his work. They ran the business out of our home for years. The business paid for both my brother and I’s private high school and college tuition in full. The kitchen is where I learned about Jamaica, watching my mother cook meals that felt worlds away from the homogeneous private school I went to. Food was the primary vehicle that kept me connected to where we were from, salted fishes and stews, curries, and dumplings. Often, we felt isolated, the only Black family in the neighborhood, but the kitchen is where I learned about the vibrancy of our culture and heritage.

The backyard is where I first learned how to play field hockey, downstairs is where I played piano for ten years. Our living room is where we hosted sleepovers, the driveway was the sendoff for prom. And thirty years later, this home is where the grandchildren run around on Christmas, where I stay when I am in town on work trips. Despite the many changes my parents have gone through – illness, gaining grandchildren, losing parents and friends – this home has been the only constant witness to it all. 

Owning a home is an incredible way to invest in your financial future; it is a tangible asset that will be passed through generations and is guaranteed to appreciate. But owning a home is so much more than that; it is the foundation and backdrop for your life. It is a unique financial instrument in that way – your home may help pay for your child’s tuition, or it may be the place where you finally learn how to cook that Sunday roast. Your home may give you the financial security to start your entrepreneurial journey or be where you spend your entire weekend because work has been stressful, and nothing is more exciting than your couch. Your home will be the place where your most profound memories will happen – it will witness your greatest joys and be your place of comfort when outside feels too overwhelming. The greatest markers of your life deserve a stable background, one you own and can share and revisit. Many of the greatest laurels of all the things my parents invested in, sacrificed for are undetectable – their children have moved out, they have retired, their savings ebb and flow with the market. But the home on Bittersweet serves as a constant reminder of the life they built and the legacy they will pass down.

JODIE TAYLOR, HEAD OF DIVERSITY, COMPASS REAL ESTATE, LLC, MY FRIEND, MY SISTER, AND MY COLLEAGUE

INTRODUCTION

House and Key Image

1

DEAR SIS

You are never too young, too old, too poor, too uneducated, or too busy to start living your dream.

NICOLE WARNE

Dear Sis, 

Owning a home is still a part of the classic, old-school, American dream – but for many of us, it’s a whole lot more than that. It represents freedom, pride, and, most critically, financial security. And for Black women, in particular, it’s about setting a new precedent for what a homeowner even looks like.

I know you’ve been thinking about this for a long time. Deep down, you know you are ready for a place of your own. Every time you pay your rent, that same feeling comes up. How much money have you wasted on rent already? How many times has your landlord taken forever to come to fix something that was broken or said no when you asked if you could paint the bedroom walls in your favorite color? You know that feeling in your gut that makes you so anxious when it’s almost time to renew the lease because you already know that your landlord is about to raise the rent on you again? Who told you to wait because the chronology of your life events should be first marriage, then baby, then comes buying a home?

Purchasing a home may be a more realistic goal than you think. Homeownership is attainable and with some guidance, you can own the place you rest your head and have consistent, reliable payments. You can make that house a home. With your unique style, it will become your refuge, your private retreat, and your quiet place. Additionally, it can help you build financial security and multigenerational wealth. You’ll look back and wonder why you didn’t do it sooner.

But let’s not ignore the elephant in the room. Black and Brown women have had barriers to ownership. According to the Her Home report by the International Finance Corporation, Women represent half of the world’s population – and half of its economic potential. But they are far less likely than men to own a home. That’s because women too often work in informal jobs, are unfamiliar with formal loan application procedures, or are stifled by traditional cultural norms.

Did you know the homeownership disparity between White non-Hispanic Americans and Black Americans is the largest in nearly thirty years? The homeownership rate gap between White and Black households grew even further in 2020. According to the National Association of Realtors (NAR) analysis, the U.S. homeownership rate experienced the largest annual increase on record. 2020 was one of the best years for the housing market. U.S. homeownership rate climbed to 65.5 percent, up 1.3 percent from 2019. Although the homeownership rate for Black Americans also increased to 43.3 percent, it is still lower than a decade ago. While homeownership is the principal source of wealth creation, 2020 translated to an even larger wealth gap between White and Black families.

Even though mortgage rates dropped below 3 percent in 2020, not everyone had the same opportunities to get a home loan and benefit from these low rates. Data shows that Black home buyers face extra challenges in getting a mortgage. Denial rates vary significantly by race/ ethnic group, with Black Americans having the highest denial rates for purchase and refinance loans. According to NAR analysis, Black applicants are twice as likely to be denied a mortgage compared to their White counterparts. The National Association of Real Estate Brokers’ Women in Real Estate (WIRE) 2022 report said that high-cost loans are a challenge for Black females that are purchasing homes. Their data showed that 15 percent of Black females compared to 5 percent of White females received high-cost loans in 2020. This number represents the largest percentage of high-cost loans across all Black applicants. This means Black women are three times more likely than White women to receive a high-cost loan.

While the main reason a mortgage lender rejected their application is the debt-to-income ratio, Black home buyers reported that they also were rejected due to a low credit score. Since homeownership is often viewed as the entry to the American dream and the gateway to intergenerational wealth, this pathway is often less achievable for Black Americans. Compounding matters, homes in predominantly Black neighborhoods across the country are valued at $48,000 less than in predominantly White neighborhoods. These are significant contributing factors to the racial wealth gap.

Whatever the intricacies of measuring individual wealth in America, racial disparities in homeownership play a constant and major role. It’s where equity is built, family stability takes root, and family wealth is handed down. That is why it is important to me that you start your homebuying journey with tools and knowledge. And that you start while you are young, so you have time to build generational wealth for the next generation. So, you can set an example for your children. Closing the gap will require a great effort on multiple fronts. I believe homeownership changes lives. 

Did you know, overall, homeownership is on women’s minds? Seventy-three percent of women say owning a home is a top priority to them, over getting married (41 percent), and having children (31 percent), according to a Bank of America Homebuyer Insights report. In contrast, only 65 percent of men said homeownership was at the top of their minds.

Maybe this describes you or the future you. According to the National Association of Realtors, Millennial buyers twenty-three to thirty-one years (younger Millennials) and buyers thirty-two to forty-one years (older Millennials) continue to make up the largest (and growing) share of home buyers at 43 percent. Millennials have been the largest share of buyers since the 2014 report.

Eighty-one percent of Younger Millennials and 48 percent of Older Millennials were first time home buyers, more than other age groups. Older Millennials had one of the highest shares of married couples (64 percent), while Younger Millennials had the highest share of unmarried couples (21 percent) buying homes. Younger Millennials were the most educated age group, with 90 percent holding at least an associate degree. Younger Millennials were also most likely to move directly from a family member’s home before buying at 24 percent and purchased the most affordable homes at a median purchase price of $250,000. Convenience to their job and commuting costs were more important to this group.

According to this 2022 report, only 6 percent of the homes were bought by African Americans. Single women made up 19 percent of all home buyers compared to 9 percent of single male home buyers.

Women have