Episode Transcript
This is channel 253. Move to Tacoma! On this episode of Move to Tacoma. The city of Tacoma did a homeownership study as well in 2021. Um, they did a homeownership study which actually highlighted a lot of disparities. I think a lot of COVID just gave us time to slow down. Everybody had time to run some data.
And just run some data and analyze. And then, you know, they were pretty shocked with the results that they found. You know, and one thing that still resonates with me is that from 1990 to 2020, Black homeownership has been decreasing in the city of Tacoma where every other ethnic race has been stable or increasing.
Channel 253 is member supported. I’m producer Doug Mackey and I hope you will show your support by going to channel253. com slash membership and join. Thank you. We’re back. I’m Marguerite and I want you To move to Tacoma. Move to Tacoma. Move to Tacoma. Move to Tacoma. You’ll like it. Move to Tacoma. Move to Tacoma.
Move to tacoma.com. I’m Marguerite with move to tacoma.com and I am here today for our very first video episode of the podcast. with Anzhane Slaughter. Welcome, Anzhane. Thank you so much. I’m happy to be here. I’m very excited to talk with you today about the series of classes that you’re going to be doing for the City of Tacoma.
Yes. But before we get down to that, I would like to ask, when you moved to Tacoma and why? Yeah, so I first moved to Tacoma in 2019, and no longer live in Tacoma. Excuse me. You live across the street from Tacoma. I live across the street, federal way. Right down the road. Awesome. And which neighborhood did you buy your house in when you moved to Tacoma?
South Tacoma. So right off of 72nd Street, right by the freeway. And what did you like about living in South Tacoma? Like, what was the appeal for you? Yeah, so when thinking about moving to Tacoma, I’m born and raised in Seattle. It was kind of frightening to move to Tacoma. Most of my family is still in Seattle.
Uh, so being close to the freeway was very important to me. Also, living in a residential area, this home that I bought, super cute, three bed, a little over 1, 200 square feet. It’s right across the street from Starbucks. school. It’s very residential, um, and friendly neighborhood. So I knew this wasn’t going to be my forever home.
Um, but it was my first investment and I knew that, you know, I would like a family to move in. What not? What better area than right here in South Tacoma? That’s awesome. So you are part of your business is young black homeowners. Correct. And you, Can you tell me about the series of classes that you’re going to be doing with the city of Tacoma?
Like, where did this come from? And who’s going to come to these classes? Yeah, absolutely. So YBH was founded in 2022. I actually got into real estate back in 2018. And when I got into real estate, I knew I wanted to increase black home ownership. My background’s actually in law and policy. So I already had a wealth of knowledge around historical policies that have kind of excluded my community from home ownership.
Uh, so wanted to be an agent of change and take the initiative. So right away, I got. Licensed to teach the first time homebuyer classes through the Washington State Housing and Finance Commission was doing that from 2018 to about 2021 and then I was like, hmm, you know, I think we need to go a little bit further with this education I would love for this education to be culturally relevant and trauma informed.
Okay. Okay before we go that far I think a lot of people who are listening are like what’s in Washington State? What did you just say? So what is the Washington State Housing and Finance Commission and what are those classes? What is it that people learn when they, why do people go to these classes? Yeah, so the Washington State Housing and Finance Commission is a government commission through the Washington State.
Um, it was founded back in the 80s actually to provide resources and opportunity towards homeownership. for the residents of Washington state. Uh, so they’ve done a lot of work there. They have down payment assistance programs through the state. Um, and in order to be, to have to be, to have access to those programs, you need to go through the education.
So that’s where the classes come in. So when somebody hears like. down payment assistance. I don’t think regular people like know what that means. So does that mean like the government just gives you money forever or how does that work? Yeah, this is a great question. Cause I actually use the down payment assistance to purchase my first home.
Okay. So how did it work? How did it work? So you take the class. It was just a one day, five hour long class. You receive a certificate. The certificate is valid for two years. So in that two years you can go and use that certificate to purchase a home. Back when I bought, they were given about 4 percent of the home price up to certain limits depending on what County you’re in.
So they basically give you the down payment. Yes, but it’s not a grant. It is a loan. So it does have to be repaid, but all payments are deferred until you either resell, you refinance, Or you pay off your loan. So I’m buying a house and it’s a 400, 000 house and I, 4 percent would be 16, 000 to put down on that house.
Exactly. And the beauty of it is that, you know, with FHA and even some conventional programs, you only need three and a half percent. So you can actually use that other half a percent towards some of your closing costs. That’s awesome. And that’s what I did. Okay. So people have to take this class. So you already teach these classes to people all the time.
Exactly. They’re public, they’re public classes. Anybody, um, can attend. We’ll drop a link in the show notes if you’re curious about that. Yeah. Yeah. And so I was doing just those regular classes, you know, for about four years. Um, and then I was like, yeah, we, I want to add on to this great foundation that the commission has already done.
And so I founded young black homeowners. It’s really important for me because I don’t come from a background of wealth or home ownership or any sort of knowledge around financial literacy To make sure that this education is reachable a tangible to people that also Come from communities like mine where maybe they’re the first in their family to ever purchase a home You know and when we’re educating communities of color we have to consider cultural relevancy right and in the trauma that has That is in, that goes into our decision making, honestly.
So how does that, how does that show up as far as education? Like what are people asking for? What’s getting in the way? Well, you know, you just don’t know what you don’t know. And if you have generations of people that just don’t know what they don’t know, then they’re often passing down wrong information or no information.
And then you just have to be that person that is determined to go out and get it. And it can be really hard because as we know, the real estate industry is all about relationships. Yes. Mm hmm. Yeah. So I wanted to make sure that it doesn’t matter what background you come from, or if you’re first generation, second generation, or you’re, you know, you never even thought about purchasing a home, that you could have access to the information in a way that you could understand it and then apply it as well.
So when you first started teaching the classes through your own business, what did you find was coming up? Like, how was it different than just teaching classes for first time buyers, you know, through the Washington, you State housing finance commission. Oh, my God. So how was it different when you started focusing?
Like, I’m going to focus specifically on communities of color. Like, how did the class shift and adjust for that? Yeah, that’s a great question, Marguerite. So, um, you know, a lot of the classes, they didn’t talk about the history. of, of, you know, real estate, you know, and so that’s why it wasn’t really culturally relevant or trauma informed.
If we don’t talk about, you know, the historical policies that have kept individuals out of purchasing homes, You might be so in shame, not realizing Seriously, or you might think that it’s just not even possible for you or that you have to have this exuberant amount of money in order to make it possible.
And so a lot of it was just undoing some of those myths, you know, with the facts, you know, talking about, uh, in the housing crisis of 08, 53 percent of black Americans lost their wealth, right? So now we’re talking about trauma and when you know, somebody, uh, you know, that has. gone through foreclosure, or maybe you personally were a part of the household that lost their home, then you might not ever want to get back into homeownership.
You might not ever want to get back into real estate or ownership in general because of that trauma. And we’re seeing this a lot with millennials in general, where just, you know, They were in their parents homes while they lost their home, or where they had to short sell their home. And then you layer on, like, the historic exclusion of black people from housing, and it’s, it’s like doubled.
Exactly. Exactly. So if you don’t really know that there are champions out in the community that are advocating for you, then it’s really hard to even think that it’s possible. You don’t really know the first step. And so I wanted to at least, uh, You know, present myself, present my company, Young Black Homeowners, as that resource for individuals in the community.
So, what kinds of things are you covering in the classes? Like, where do you start? I mean, like, in my mind, I’m such a realtor, right? I’m like, start with credit. But maybe you don’t start. Maybe you start, you’re saying you start with history. Yeah, so in our classes, the one program that we actually have that’s ongoing right now is our 100, 000 downpayment assistance program.
This is major. We received, young black homeowners received 2 million from the state of Washington in 2023 to offer down payment assistance to black families. Because it’s not only the city of Tacoma’s initiative, but the whole state of Washington has initiative to increase black homeownership. Um, and so this down payment assistance program was just one way that they wanted to, you know, try to bridge the gap.
And so we went after the funds. We were successful and received the dollars. And for all of the 20 applicants that were able to help with 100, 000 down, they all had to go through the young black homeowners, uh, home, home buyer education. And what kind, I mean, 100, 000 is like a good chunk of change for down, which you need a good chunk of change for down payments in the, in the, Pacific Northwest.
Like that’s important. We have high phone prices, but like what is their like requirements for applying for that? For people who might be like, Oh, next time these funds are available. Like how do I get in on that? Absolutely. So all the applicants, they had to still qualify for their first mortgage. So this is just assistance.
So you still still have to meet the same, you know, mortgage requirements as, you know, most banks, most lending institutions. Right. So they want, you got to have the six 20 credit score, two years of job history, you know, and then a debt to income ratio that will qualify you in order to get into a home. But at least you don’t have to worry about the down payment, you know, and so that, that was major.
Um, but obviously that down payment isn’t available to like, Everybody. Like, how do they, like, what are the requirements as far as who can apply? Like, if you’re just like, I am black, I can apply. But I feel like they probably made it a little more nuanced than that. Yeah, yeah. So there are some income requirements.
It is based on the area median income, 80 percent of the area median income per household. When we first opened the application back in August of 2023, you know, we did receive a large number of applicants, actually over 132 applicants in just a 30 day window. Oh wow. Right? And we only had room for 20. So, it did make the selection process very difficult.
But one thing that we were really looking for in this first round of applications You know, this first rollout was that the individuals that were going to be a part of the program are also leaders in the, in their community in some way, shape or form so that this home is not just a shelter for you and your immediate family, but it also serves as a purpose for the community.
So I think I was making an assumption. that there was going to be like some rigorous, like, I mean, anytime you deal with the government, right? Like, there’s some kind of rigorous, like, vetting process that’s happening. But you’re describing it almost like, okay, for our group, it was like, there’s like a little committee.
And it’s like, you, you guys, like, had the power of that selection process. Was that how it really worked? Absolutely. Oh, wow. And, you know, I had the, the, myself and our partner over at African American Leadership Forum, their executive director, Don Bennett, we had the executive authority to select Who was selected into the process?
Wow. Um, and we’re starting to see the government actually work more in this favor as, you know, using intermediary community organizations to kind of do some of their groundwork, people who’ve been doing this forever. Yeah, exactly. And it helps with, you know, trust relationship building as well, you know, because the government, as we know, they have a lot to, a lot of work to do around that area.
You could look into that, you know. Okay, so I want to take a break really quick and when we come back I want to learn more about the Black Homeownership Initiative and like where that came from and also these classes from the City of Tacoma. Let’s get into it. Our first video episode of the Move to Tacoma podcast is sponsored by Tapco Credit Union.
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Visit tapcocu. org. Insured by NCUA. Equal Housing Lender. We’re back with Move to Tacoma with Anzhane Slaughter. Welcome back, Anzhane. Thank you. So, when we last spoke, you were telling us about the Black Homeownership Initiative, which is a program from, it’s not a federal program, this is from the state of Washington, right?
No, actually. So, BHI is a network of organizations that are all a part of this initiative to increase black homeownership. So, okay, so when you say a network of organizations, Again, we’re not talking about the government. We’re talking about like private organizations private or private and public non profit organizations BHI actually came out of the JP Chase initiative, you know that they put out on the national scale back in 2020 And they identified five hotspots Seattle Tacoma just happened to be one of those hotspots across the country Where they want to see an increase in black home ownership and to do that They really you know one they put in place, uh, convener organization, which is civic commons to just kind of get the ball rolling to kind of, and civic commons is a nonprofit out of Seattle, you know, I’m not too sure about where they came from.
We’ll put it in the show notes, but yes, yes, but they are phenomenal. Um, they really do embody the essence of this work, which is really important. Um, but so yeah, they’re coalescing organizations that are. Interested in seeing an increase in black home ownership? Um, right now we have about 85 organizations in this area that have signed on to be a part of BHI and YVH.
We’re just one of them. Okay. And so I’m just trying to visualize this in my head. So the money, the initial seed money came from Chase. Yep. And so they funded this initiative and then. The Civic Commons people are kind of leading on it, but they’re gathering together different kinds of non profits and like, obviously you’re a private company.
Mm hmm. Pulling them together, but like, is all the money still coming from the Chase Fund, or is it like, these organizations are also bringing funds to the pool? Well, All of these organizations, because some of the organizations would include like Habitat for Humanity, Homesite, Urban League, like they have pots of money, right?
They’re already doing this work. Um, so part of it is just kind of taking us out of our silos and bringing us together to really show the bigger impact and the messaging to the community as well that, wow, you have a huge support, this huge network that wants to see you, uh, succeed when it comes to your home ownership goals.
Um, but there was some seed money that, that, um, the chase. put out there, right? To get just get the ball rolling. Right. But we also know that there’s a lot of money that’s flowing for homeownership on the legislative level from government. Right. Um, and so we’ve actually partnered up with the Washington State Housing and Finance Commission.
As we know, uh, in 2023, the Home Covenant Act passed in Washington State, which pretty much removed all racially based covenants from record. It also Added a hundred dollar recording fee for all real estate transactions. So now create special credit programs to help those that were harmed due to these racially based covenants.
Okay, so when you say like racial, like they’re, they’re striking these racist covenants from the record. Like what, what do you mean? Yeah. Yeah. I think a lot of folks don’t, don’t read all the papers when they buy a house. Like they don’t always know what’s in there, but there’s some messed up stuff in there for sure.
And I think the word covenant just isn’t used too often. So I’m happy to kind of explain a covenant itself is just a private contract, a contract between two neighbors even. And that’s what we saw. We saw that neighbors were getting together, coming up with these contracts that said you cannot sell this home.
to someone of color. We saw African descent, we saw Asian descent. Um, and there was other cases where it was religious, you know, Muslim, right? So, um, when there’s these covenant and the hard thing about these covenants, which is how, why the government needed to get involved is because the court system actually upheld these racially based covenants to prevent, um, access to homeownership for those people.
You know, protected classes, um, which we know today has detrimental impacts when you’re not able to purchase homes, you know, decades ago before the growth, while you can still get in at a reasonable price and to be able to benefit off of the long term appreciation and, you know, and growth, then it puts you in a really tough position in our market today where we’re seeing, and I’m a real estate professional, you know, we’re both realtors, we’re helping people get into homes on a regular daily basis.
Um, young people and not even just young people, but really any people, young middle age, they’re getting gifts. They’re getting gifts from their grandparents, from their great uncles. And if our grandparents weren’t able to purchase those homes and those desired communities, which these were desired areas, waterfront properties, you know, anywhere that was close to anywhere that wasn’t necessarily redlined.
Yeah. Cause that’s what kind of, that’s how we kind of get into this conversation of redlining. Yeah. There were. actual lines on maps for where black people could live, you know? Um, and so they weren’t the desired areas. And those areas even had limits on the financing, right? So in those areas you couldn’t get an FHA loan or a VA loan to purchase in those neighborhoods.
You would have to pay a higher rate of interest, which again eats into the amount of wealth that you’re going to be able to develop. Exactly. And then of course the appreciation, like between the red line to area and the area where white people were allowed to live or were supposed to live or couldn’t live.
you know, keeping their area, like the appreciation over 30, 40, 50 years is pretty different. And all of the, you know, the withdrawals you can do from your house to send your kids to college or start a business, none of those opportunities. I think it’s like, when you start thinking about, you know, It’s not just the house and the appreciation of the house, but everything that instrument allows you to do in your life and in your kids lives.
Oh yeah. Homeownership brings stability to communities 100 percent and studies will show that, you know, studies will show that your, your school grades are going to be better when you have a stable housing. Your health is better when you have stable housing. You know, your family is able to keep tradition and culture because you have a home.
All of these things, you know, um, go into kind of explaining the circumstances that we live in today. Why, you know, the black the African American culture, you know, is just It’s not just hip hop, right? And it’s not just what we see, but if we had homes where generations could pass down, instead, you know, we’re having to move due to instability, um, and renting and apartments, you know, you’re just not able to keep those traditions and that culture.
So homeownership is just so important. That’s, that’s why I got in, you know, and not everyone that is in real estate, um, or owns a home even really understands the importance. But when you come from a law and policy background like myself and you’re able to see how you, I mean, we tracked, uh, homeownership, real estate, just in this country, you know, every decade values have, um, doubled.
For the most part, um, six to six sixties. And that’s still true to today. And King and Pierce County we’ve seen in the last 10 years, home values double. Yes. 10 years ago, you can buy a house in King County for 400, 000. The average home price now is 830, 000. You know, the same is true for Tacoma for Pierce County.
So that’s why we got to make sure that everyone has access to a home, no matter what you do. area you come from, what community you come from, or whether or not your family has had wealth or not. Well, hopefully anybody watching now is on board and tracking with this concept. I’m curious, like, what was the spark that got these classes with the City of Tacoma going?
Like, you were already doing Washington State Housing Finance, you know, BHI was in play. Yep. What’s going on with the city of Tacoma and what are you doing there? Yeah. So we mentioned a little bit that the state did a homeownership study. Well, the county did the city of Tacoma did a homeownership study as well in 2021.
Um, they did a homeownership study, which actually highlighted a lot of disparities. I think a lot of COVID just gave us time to slow down. Everybody had time to run some data and just run some data and analyze. And then, you know, they were pretty shocked with the results that they found, you know, and one thing that still resonates with me is that, But from 1990 to 2020, black homeownership has been decreasing in the city of Tacoma, where every other ethnic race has been stable or increasing.
You know? And so, when numbers like that come up, when also numbers when, uh, they did, they did denial rates, you know, they wanted to really analyze why Communities of color are not getting mortgage loans, right? And a lot of it is based on education. Credit history was 33 percent of why black households in the city of Tacoma were being denied.
Debt to income was right below that at 27%. You know, this, both of these concepts just come from education. You know, but again, Like you said, you don’t know what you don’t know. And if your family doesn’t know it, then they don’t even have the information to give it to you. And not everyone is gonna be like me, and get a full ride academic scholarship, and go to the University of Washington, Right.
and study law, you know, and actually get put on to this information. So, You know, but we, they shouldn’t have to either. Right. Um, so that’s why I think most, most homeowners do not have a law education in order to find their way into housing. Right. So why should it be, you know, right. Why, why should that be the norm?
So, uh, I think the city of Tacoma really wanted to put some, you know, money where their mouth was when they wanted to put some action behind their initiative to increase black homeownership or just to do something about the disparities that were found in their very own study. So what, I mean, I know how big city budgets are, and even though, like, sometimes when you’re paying taxes, you feel like they’re really big, they’re not.
Not when it comes, as soon as you start talking about building housing, making access to housing, funding down payment assistance programs, the numbers are gigantic. So, how, how can a city, and a, you know, a city of a couple hundred thousand people, how can we make a dent in an issue this big? Like, what was their decision?
Like, how are they proceeding? Well, you know, I think what makes Washington really unique is that we have some great legislators, um, on the state level that we’re pushing at the, almost simultaneously, we’re pushing For a change in the demographic of homeownership in the state and the state has a lot more money than the city.
So the state was helping out as well. Absolutely. I want to say that the city of Tacoma has applied for down payment assistance through the state so that they can offer their own specific program. And that’s not just unique to the city of Tacoma. Yeah. I’m sure there’s other municipalities across the state that go to the state for resources so that they can, you know, and they have like a fund for the year and it, you know, eventually gets used up.
I think. Yeah. So you, yeah. Exactly. So for this program, where the seven classes, should we talk about the seven classes or should we talk about the city of Tacoma down payment assistance program? I mean, you decide what goes first. Okay, the classes. Education always comes first. So let’s talk about the classes.
Um, so we have been contracted, Young Black Homeowners has been contracted to actually provide Implement the education component of the city of Tacoma’s down payment assistance program that is going to be ongoing from 2024 to 2025 Okay So our education is not the one time class five hours like we described before right because we’re trying to change the narrative Around home ownership and really shift culture when it comes to the African american community and their ability to purchase homes We’re actually turning the idea of a workshop Upside down on its head.
Okay. We want to make these full on cultural events. So we’re bringing in food, right? Who doesn’t love food and culturally relevant food too from black and Caribbean caterers here in the city of Tacoma. There will be no raisins in the potato salad. There will be no raisins in the potato salad. No. And there’ll be a different menu every time.
Awesome. So we got food. We have childcare because 77 percent of the study from the city of Tacoma, Tacoma. Um, the attendees that would actually attend their down payment assistance programs are just home ownership education programs. We’re single parents. So we need to make sure that we have child care in place at these places, uh, in our workshops, in our events.
We’re also giving out gas cards. I’ve budgeted a thousand dollars per workshop and just free gas cards. Help people get there and get home. Exactly. I am paying for your gas. So if you just come to get your gas paid, That’s a goal for me. You’re gonna end up learning something anyway. You’re gonna end up learning and connecting and anything.
But sometimes, you just gotta hook people in. A spoonful of sugar to help the medicine. Absolutely. But also, the community that we’re trying to target, when we talk about the black community, they’re also on the bottom of the, um, Income, you know, disparity graph as well. So we have to understand that this community actually needs these resources This is not just a want or a extra thing.
Like it’s very important that we are considering Transportation and making sure that people can be compensated for their time. Okay, so we’re gonna get you there We’re gonna make sure that you’re well fed We got your kids getting watched while you have we got fully focused on learning and then we have t shirts Free t shirts that are gonna come, uh, every participant’s gonna get a t shirt.
Because that’s part of the changing the culture. Walking around, you’re a billboard. We all are billboards with just the things that we wear. So, imagine having a shirt that says, you know, I’m my ancestor’s wildest dreams. Or these positive affirmations, like, Not just you can do it, you know, but like that I attended and I’m looking forward to being a homeowner like that’s how we Change culture and we shift narratives.
So we’re giving out free t shirts. We also We’ll have a DJ because we need music at every event and Black people, we are very rhythmic people. So if we’re eating, we want to be listening to some music at the same time. Uh, so we’ll make sure to have a DJ there. Um, and then financial toolkits. This is, these are my, you know, this is my most, I’m most excited about the financial toolkits because we’ll be giving you budget journals, pens, you know, resources that you can actually use on a regular basis so that you can, now apply the information that you received during the workshop.
And what is, what does applying that information look like? What they come in, they, they, they learn this education, which I imagine is going to cover things like credit and history. You’ve already said history credit, like how the homeownership process works. But like, then what, like what goes in the journal?
Well, this is really going to be used for budgeting. Okay. It’s so important. One, if you’re paying off debts, which we know it’s a, Part of the process to get that DTI down for almost everyone, right? We, we got to know how to budget. So I don’t only want to educate on what we should be spending our resources on, right?
The 50, 30, 20. Um, but we also need to actually be doing the line item, you know, every day as you’re, spending so you can keep track of those expenses and so that you can make sure that you’re staying on budget today because technology and we have tap and we have Apple pay and there’s your subscriptions.
I mean, they make it so easy to spend money. Money is going out before you even know it came in. Because you’re not like looking at your app 100 percent or maybe some people don’t even have the phones, the technology to get the notifications when their card is being debited. No, it’s so true. So we really have to track and if that means that you need to write down everything that you swiped for so that you can keep it in order, that’s the simplest way to do it and I want to make sure that they have the tools in order to do that.
That’s awesome. Yeah. So when are these classes going to be and where are they going to be? Cause like, I’m, I’m, I’m trying to visualize this. Like it’s a little bit like a potluck. It’s a little bit like the club. Like where could this possibly be happening? This is full on cookout, like homeownership cookouts.
Um, and there’ll be right in South Tacoma. So I’m really excited. We’re, uh, we’ve partnered up with Edison square. Oh, great. And so because they have everything that you could possibly need to put on an event like this or a series of events. So they’ll all be at Edison square. The last Saturday of every month.
starting April 27th will be our first workshop. Great. And there’ll be going up until October 26th. So there’s seven opportunities for people to attend. So you don’t have to go to all seven. You don’t have to go to all seven, but I will say that if you want access to the down payment assistance through the city of Tacoma, you need to attend at least four.
Oh, okay. So four of the seven and you have seven. Spring, summer, and fall to get them done. Exactly. I would recommend attending the first four though, because as we said, DPA is always limited. I won’t say always the state has a lot more resources in the city. So these funds are limited. Um, and there will be people at the first four and that will be going after the down payment assistance.
So if you want to be one of those people. Okay. So let’s say I go. You use the gas card, the kids are watched, I learn everything from you, I use the budget, like I, I qualify, I go to four sessions. What is it exactly that I now have access to that I don’t just have, like, that I don’t have access to by going through the Washington State Housing Finance Commission?
Like what’s different about this? Great question. So the City of Tacoma’s down payment assistance program is a little bit more robust than the state’s. The state offers about 4 5 percent down payment assistance up to a cap, depending on the county. The City of Tacoma is offering 60, 000 per household, um, in down payment assistance.
And some of those funds can be used towards, you know, closing costs. And as we mentioned before, you know, you’d only need 3. 5 percent to really, you know, be eligible to, you know, As far as down payment to purchase a home is, you know, to get your mortgage, whether it’s FHA or conventional three and a half percent, but that ends up, I’m a real estate agent.
So I’m trying to do the math in my head. I’m like 60, 000. Okay. Is that, is that 10 percent on a median priced home plus your, is that your closing costs as well? I mean, it’s pretty much everything you need. The idea is that you’re going to be able to get into a home. with little to no money out of pocket and have an affordable payment per month because you’re not just putting down the minimum requirement, which is that three and a half to 5%.
And then, you know, whatever happens. So you buy your 400, 000 house now. And in 20 years, you know, you save. sell it. Um, you just have to reimburse that initial 60 grand back to the city, which is gonna be like 12 in 20 years. Like it’s gonna buy you a carton of milk, basically. Yeah, but then all the other equity is yours.
So that’s the that this is like the tool to get Absolutely. Absolutely. It’s how you can just get in the door literally because we know it’s, it’s difficult in this market. Not only is it a high value market, but it’s a competitive market with inventory being low. Yes. So how do we, how can we stand out?
How can we give inspire and encourage people to still get into a high value and competitive market? Well, we got to have resources to do that. Well, and I mean, we’ve, we both sold a few houses in our day. And I feel like the key thing that I’m always trying to tell buyers is like the person who’s most prepared is usually the one that’s going to win a multiple offer.
You know, when you wait until, Oh, I’m going to find my realtor at the last minute, I found a house, so I better find a lender. I better find an agent. I better find a down payment assistance program. Like it’s best, even if you don’t know when this is going to happen to like go and get the ball rolling and like, Get prepared, right?
Absolutely. Even if you feel like this is a year down the road, or two years down the road. Yeah. Once they’ve done the four classes, I guess this is the next question. How long does it last? Like, how fast do you have to buy a house? Like, what if you still need to pay down some debt, but you qualify? Yeah, so you have two years.
Just like the states program where you is long, you know, you have the certificate, you’re going to get a certificate cause we’re going to check in at every single workshop. Make sure to scan the QR code and check in. You will not be getting any of those free stuff. I kind of feel like you’re going to remind people like 20 times.
Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Absolutely. Um, but. Let’s remind them now. Um, yeah, so you, you will get a certificate once we have at least the four, you know, the four classes on, you know, in our record. And then there still is the area median income requirements that the city has for their down payment assistance program.
Right. Um, and that’s going to be based on household size. You know, so as long as you, you know, meet their requirements, you have the education, then you should be good to go. We’ll go ahead and drop in the show notes the down payment assistance page for the city too so you can take a look for yourself at what those requirements are.
So It’s fall 2024. You’ve just finished your last class. Like you’re looking back on this endeavor. Like, what are you hoping to achieve? Like what will success look like for you when you look back? Like how will you know, like you did it? Yeah. Well, and this might be a little ambitious, but I’m an ambitious person.
So I shoot for the stars and land on the moon. It’s fine. Um, my goal is to have at least a hundred people at every workshop. So we definitely, you know, and we’re trying to shift. the culture, change the narrative. Not everyone is going to get the down payment assistance program. Not everyone is even going to be ready or thinking it’s even possible for them to purchase a home.
But that’s exactly who we want to show up. We want the people that never even thought it would be possible to come to these workshops, get your plate of food, get your gas card, get your T shirts, and at least we planted a seed. And that’s how we’re going to, so really my goal and the city’s goal is to just try to change the culture a little bit and educate, educate around these areas.
We didn’t talk about really the classroom content or the workshop event content, but every workshop will have a different focus. Oh, okay. So they have like a different theme each month. A different theme. You’re not going to come back and hear the same thing twice. So you can also pick and choose which workshops you want to attend, um, based on what you need, right?
Can you give us a little preview of the different themes? Absolutely. So we already talked about credit and budgeting. Um, we’re definitely gonna, we’re gonna dive into history in every workshop because there, we need to just, one, remove the person from the blame and, you know, first and foremost. Um, but we’ll be talking about credit.
We’ll be talking about the pre approval process. The home buying process. You know, we’ll talk about VA loans because there’s a huge veteran community in Tacoma and there’s a lot of information that is just lost when it comes to VA loans. So we’ll have a class specific for VAs. Then we’ll talk about maintaining homeownership.
because we want to make sure that these homeowners can sustain their homes. Right. Um, and especially since COVID, we’ve seen a wealth of foreclosure mitigation programs, surface forbearance programs. The bank does not want their house back. They learned that lesson already. They don’t want to do that again.
They don’t want the house back. They want you to be able to make the payment. Um, so there, so we want to educate and inform people so that they’re not stuck. They’re not scared to call up their loan servicer and just have those conversations and communicate you know what their hardship or whatever they’re facing.
Um, so that’s just a little sneak peek of what we have. That’s obviously not the full seven but you’ll have to just come or go to our website at youngblackhomeowners. net and you can find all of that information. So uhh You’re saying like the goal is to have a hundred folks at each of the classes and of course not everybody’s gonna buy a house Right away, but is the goal to like do this again next year, you know, if it’s well attended Is that the idea that the city will say?
Okay, we’ve got something here. Let’s keep this going. Yeah, well City of Tacoma. Yes. I’m like, whenever you need homeownership services, young black homeowners will be here to assist. So, that’s the goal. We want to make sure that our presence is sustained in the community, uh, in Tacoma, in Seattle, throughout Washington State, and we’re actually hoping to take the brand nationwide.
Because there’s homeownership, I mean, black homeownership has decreased on a national level, um, since our peak in the 60s, where it was about 50%. We’re sitting around 45%. You know, Seattle, this is in Washington. This is my birthplace. This is my home. So, of course, it only makes sense to make HQ here. Right.
But even so, based on the most recent State of Housing in Black America, the Sheba report, we’ll, we’ll put the link to that as well. Homeownership in this area has declined significantly compared to the national average. So we’re about 45 percent on the national average. We’re about 30 percent for black home ownership here, which is kind of alarming because we only make up 4 percent of the state’s population.
So, that’s a 15%, you know, problem right there that I’m committed, YBH is committed to addressing. Um, but, certainly, we’re gonna be here. Our roots are here and we’re not going nowhere. Okay, so, another question. Uh, let’s say, uh, there’s a realtor watching or a lender and they’re like, oh, I have clients that I think should go to this.
It’s like. Are they allowed to send their clients to your class? Like, is that against the rules? Please send your client. I will not take them. You can attend with your clients if you like. Okay, that’s good to know. Yes, yes. Um, you know, a lot of this is building community. It’s building the network. I love to know what other real estate professionals are out there that are engaging with the black community.
Um, and that will like to see more trauma informed home buyer education in their area. Right. We could come out and do those workshops. Um, you know, this YBH, we definitely, as a broker, you know, we’re scaling. And if you like this, to join the YBH team as a broker, then there’s opportunity for that as well.
But you certainly don’t have to be. Um, and we want to make sure that everyone knows that they’re welcome to attend and that, and that includes lenders as well. Like they can lenders. I mean, it might be a great idea if there’s going to be a hundred potential buyers in the room, it might be a good idea. Um, Yeah, to show up and to just connect and make yourself known.
Well, and I think for so many people that are in the real estate business, whether you’re in title or loans or real estate, like the discourse around this topic, like our education on this. I mean, it’s getting better, but it hasn’t been great. And like any opportunity to to get this education is. And you can serve your clients better when you have it.
Absolutely. And we love YBH. We throw events. So we just had our second annual black equity ball, which is a huge red carpet formal event. It’s a celebration of existing black homeowners, but also inspiring future black homeowners. So we, You know, have a champagne toast. We celebrate the achievement of crossing that threshold, but we’re also providing resources for those that aren’t yet homeowners because one, you need the representation.
You need to see other people that look like you that have achieved the goal. Um, but then also you need to know what information is out there that can help you become a homeowner as well. So we love, you know, to partner with other organizations to teach, to have events. Not just educational events, but celebrations, just getting together and just cheer, you know, that’s part of the culture shifting, right?
Um, it’s just getting together and talking about the fact that this is a tangible goal. Not just another workshop. Not just another workshop. Some of those can be real dry. This is not your grandma’s workshop. Okay, good. So is there anything that I haven’t asked you about, about this series of classes that you want to make sure that people know?
Um, well, they’ll be the time. They’ll be from 10 a. m. to 1 p. m. Okay, so midday, midday, midday. Come. I don’t know why I was the DJ had me thinking this was 7 o’clock at night. Okay. Yeah. 10 to 1. The last Saturday last Saturday of every month of every month. Okay. Right here. I’m in. South Seattle or South Tacoma, uh, at the Edison Square.
Yeah, no, we just, we’re really excited. We hope to see everyone. You don’t have to live in Tacoma. I guess I should say that you don’t have to live in Tacoma to attend these workshops. You can be like Anzhane and live across the street from Tacoma and further away. Exactly. You can live in Seattle. The reality is if you’re a first time home buyer.
Tacoma might be the only affordable place for you to actually find housing. So this program is for you. Yes. The down payment assistance only is for the city of Tacoma, but also, you know, if you’re just looking to get the information from somebody that comes from a similar background as you, this is the place you belong in this space.
And we, we want you here. That is awesome. Ajene, thank you so much for coming on and for explaining all this, answering all my dumb questions. I really appreciate it. Like, this is going to be an amazing summer. Like, all the stuff you’re doing is amazing. I’m so excited. I hope maybe we’ll do like a recap after the workshops and talk about how well they went.
Yeah, that would be awesome. Let’s do that. Okay. Hey everyone, it’s Anzhane Slaughter here, the CEO and founder of Young Black Homeowners, and I want to personally invite you to our seven series of homeownership events happening right here in the city of Tacoma. These are not your grandmother’s homeownership workshops.
We’re offering gas cards, food, t shirts, child care, and of course education to inspire and encourage you to get into homeownership. They’ll take place on the last Saturday of every month, starting this month. in April, April 27th, all the way up until October 26th. You can learn more on our website at youngblackhomeowners.
net. I hope to see you guys there.
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