With Home Sales Surging, Black LGBTQ+ Millennials Are Trading Rent For A Mortgage
If you spend any amount of time on social media throughout the day, your timeline has most likely been inundated with photos of smiling first-time home buyers, many of whom identify as LGBTQ+. Whether single or partnered, homeownership has become a top priority for African American millennials across the country, and Atlanta is no exception. An increase in sales fueled by the global pandemic has made the once elusive goal of owning a home a reality for many who had previously given up on this aspect of The American Dream.
Hubert Tate, an Atlanta-based gay realtor with Keller Williams Realty, has been navigating the often stressful process with first-time buyers from day one to closing. He has witnessed firsthand the surge in interest by millennials to use the exorbitant amount of money being paid to rent towards a mortgage.
“We have seen a huge increase of individuals who identify as millennials, really driving the marketplace right now, that first-time homeowner thing,” says Tate. “Especially when folks are realizing you can pay two grand for rent, whether it’s in DC, Atlanta, New York, and get a house for maybe the same price or a little cheaper, and now you have locked in that mortgage rate for the next 15, 30 years.”
“You buy real estate and wait. You don’t wait to buy real estate. A lot of wealth in this country is tied to real estate.”
Tate tells The Reckoning that waiting to invest in real estate should not be an option, especially for African Americans and those who identify as LGBTQ+.
“You buy real estate and wait. You don’t wait to buy real estate,” he says. “A lot of wealth in this country is tied to real estate. The richest people in the world have real estate in their portfolio. Whether they sell it, own it, invest in it, in some way their wealth is tied to real estate. The thing about it is that when you think about real estate, to my understanding, unless God says otherwise, HE is not going to make any more land. And so the land that we have, that's it. If you're sitting on some land, he who owns the land, holds the power,” says Tate.
It’s a message that Daniel Driffin, 35, a public health consultant and one of Tate’s clients received from relatives years before he chose Tate as his realtor and trusted guide through the home-buying process.
"You know you need to get a house," Driffin recalls being repeatedly told by his parents and grandmother before closing on his first home in April in the historic Collier Heights neighborhood in Atlanta.
"My grandparents bought their first home at the age of 25 in Rochester, NY, so I figured I should continue the wealth-generating," he says.
Like many Americans, Driffin tells The Reckoning that he was worried that his considerable student-loan debt—he’s currently pursuing a doctorate—would prevent him from being financially capable of owning a home.
“I completed a soft inquiry and was told I was in a better situation than I believed. Being a higher earner saved me and allowed me additional options that I didn't believe were [available] for me,” he says.
While Driffin was not initially sold on the idea of a Black gay realtor, “I didn't want to hear about my situation in the streets during a boozy brunch (cause the girls talk),” he quips. But after talking with Tate and receiving glowing reviews from mutual associates, he ultimately trusted Tate to uphold his promise to get him across the finish line.
Driffin looked at eight homes over a two-day period, six of which were under contract by the end of the day, which proved to be both disappointing and stressful for the new house hunter.
“My grandparents bought their first home at the age of 25 in Rochester, NY, so I figured I should continue the wealth-generating.”
“I looked at a place in Collier Heights and loved it,” says Driffin. “We made an offer and lost to a higher bidder.”
But on April 6, 2021, Driffin did a walkthrough of his new home during the day with Tate before closing. He returned later that night with his best friend, and to his amazement, a "SOLD" sign was now in his front yard.
“We drove by the house that night, sat on the porch, and walked into the backyard,” he says. “As I was backing out of the driveway, I hadn't realized it, but the listing agent had tacked on the "SOLD," sign. We had to pull over, and I cried.”
Love and Real Estate
Less than 10 miles away from Driffin’s neighborhood in Collier Heights, Jordan Lewis, 30, an airline cargo and trucking manager, and his partner, Noble Pickett, 34, a digital marketing manager were building their first home from the ground up in the Brownsville neighborhood in Southwest Atlanta.
The couple met on Tinder three years ago. The pair became homeowners after their leases ended, with Lewis facing job instability as a result of the pandemic.
“It was a scary time for your position to come up for review,” says Lewis. “They kept looking at my position to see if it was even valuable. So, I was telling babe we needed to buy a house. Leasing a home right now, legally, they can kick us out in 30 days if something was to happen. So I checked out my 401k, and everything was good. I emptied it and we decided to go ahead and start the journey of looking for a house.”
“What I would tell anybody is to find a realtor, do not let the internet appoint you one, because our process was not the most easy-going with that realtor. He was not family [LGBTQ] or of color.”
For Pickett, the test would come during a business trip with Lewis to Washington state.
“That week that we were in the hotel in Seattle was my chance to kind of gauge how we would mesh,” says Pickett. “And that same week I told him I would be comfortable moving in with him after my lease ended, which was maybe a month or two after.”
Unlike Driffin, Lewis and Pickett opted not to work with a realtor, a decision they say they’d make differently if given a do-over.
“We were on Zillow so much that Zillow appointed us a realtor,” says Lewis. “One time we went to look at a home and they said, ‘Oh, you'll be meeting with this guy at this time.’ And then every time we went to look at a home, it would shoot to the realtor. So that's how we did it. What I would tell anybody is to find a realtor, do not let the internet appoint you one, because our process was not the most easy-going with that realtor. He was not family [LGBTQ] or of color.”
While millennials are currently driving the housing market, accelerating a five-year trend in millennial homeownership rates rising the fastest, there are still barriers for Black LGBTQ+ individuals on the road to homeownership. According to a 2020 survey by the Center for Black Equity, “over half of Black LGBTQ participants (55%) fear racial discrimination in the home buying process. There are also fears of discrimination due to sexual orientation, gender identity, age, and disability.”
These are only a few of the hurdles Black LGBTQ+ people face before financial obstacles impede potential homeowners from generating wealth and a piece of The American Dream.
What’s your credit score?
Tate, who purchased his home in 2016, tells The Reckoning that “some folks are ashamed or embarrassed by how much time it may take to save up for a house.”
“I started saving up for the house in 2013. It took me three years to get myself in a place to buy and that's okay,” he says.
“To be in a good position, you need at least a 620 [FICO score]. 580, you're in the game, but you’re not in the game. 620, you're at first base, 680, and you’re about to hit a home run with anything above 700,” says Tate. “But again, everyone's situation is different. I closed a deal last week, and the lady had a 587 credit score. The thing with credit scores is that you may not get the most competitive interest rates, but you do what you gotta do, by any means necessary.”
“I bought a membership for credit repair because I honestly didn't understand how credit worked,” says Driffin. “I thought you just had to pay your bills and credit cards on time and have a low debt-to-income ratio. I didn't know you had to have inquiries and closed accounts removed from your credit report. I started that in November and by February my credit score increased and I was able to be pre-approved.”
A common myth about the home buying process centers on the perceived expensive down payment, that for some, appears to be an unattainable goal, specifically for individuals not born into wealth.
“Yes, you need something in the bank, but it doesn’t need to be $40,000 like we were told growing up,” says Pickett.
“When they look at your overall credit profile, they’re looking at your debt to income ratios, they’re looking at your credit score, they’re looking at your salary.”
“We ended up spending close to $20,000, honestly. But for me, I wanted my credit to be A1,” says Lewis. “You can buy a home with a 560 credit score, but nobody wants to go in with that low of a credit score because you're going to have the highest interest rate.”
Tate recommends that new home buyers connect with a realtor and loan officer to get an accurate picture of their credit profile to know how much money it will take to close on a house.
“When they look at your overall credit profile, they're looking at your debt to income ratios, they're looking at your credit score, they're looking at your salary,” he says. “And so they consider all of that and determine exactly where you need to be from a financial standpoint.”
“Take your time. Get what you can afford, and get what you can see yourself waking up to and walking around naked, having friends over, having Thanksgiving, having Christmas,” Lewis says, offering advice to new homeowners.
“Those are the most important things when it comes to buying a home because you have to remember, you're not going to be in this home for two years—you're going to be in it for five or 10 years. You will want to, so you can be able to leave with something. We bought our home at one value and we're looking to leave it at almost double that value.”
