Home Ownership: Get Educated

"I feel like there's this stigma out there that, as Black women, we're loud, we're aggressive, or if we're not loud and aggressive, they expect us to sit there and be quiet and allow whatever to occur with no voice. When making an investment like building a home, whether or not is for personal or investment properties, be your voice, have a voice and use your voice and don't be afraid to use your voice."—Myesha Thompson

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Home Ownership: Get Educated

Clip: S2 Ep3 | 2m 29s

Why financial literacy is important when preparing to buy a home.

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GUESTS

Tiffany Malone

Tiffany Malone

Tiffany Malone is a real estate consultant, affordable housing advocate, a change agent for racial justice in the real estate industry, and a loud voice for building generational wealth for Black families. Tiffany works with buyer and seller clients in the greater Madison WI area as a licensed Realtor at Alvarado Real Estate Group and is one of the co-creators of OWN IT: Building Black Wealth, an Madison initiative that is changing the game when it comes to educating and creating access to funds for Black and Brown families to build wealth through real estate and homeownership.

Myesha Thompson

Myesha Thompson

Myesha Thompson is a real estate investor and a licensed life insurance and financial advisor in Madison, WI. She takes pride in sharing her experiences from her life and educating minorities on the importance of life insurance, financial literacy, real estate, and personal/business credit. Her hope is to inspire others to learn from her journey and experiences to help them efficiently and effectively conqueror their own journey. She works for the state of Wisconsin at the Department of Health Services where she serves as the point of contact for the state Foodshare and Badgercare outreach programs.

TRANSCRIPT

– I grew up on the South Side of Chicago. Our school system was obviously very different from Wisconsin’s school system. We didn’t learn a lot. We didn’t have books. My family wasn’t in a position to educate me on things such as life insurance and credit. And I feel like as we learn these things, we should share it with our community and educate them. Because just like my family wasn’t in a position to educate me, I’m pretty sure there’s thousands of other families out there who just lack the knowledge to be able to teach their families this important thing ’cause it’s very important. We need to understand the “whys” behind why we’re doing what we’re doing.

– I love that. You all are speaking music to my ears. I am someone who’s super passionate about financial literacy. Even though I get there are some challenges with how that industry operates and the assumptions that it makes about people.

– Myesha: Yes.

– Because actually, poor people don’t need to not go to Starbucks every day. Like, that’s not a poor people issue. The issues with people in poverty are very different from those in the middle class. But I agree that there are some maybe foundational things that are necessary before you even get to the point where you’re going through the home purchasing process and interacting with a Tiffany to, like, go to showings and things like that.

– Myesha: Absolutely.

– So I guess, what advice would you have for folks, particularly from our communities, other historically marginalized communities who are like, “Man, I’m just trying to get started with the basics.”

Like, what’s a basic way to get started to position yourself to be competitive in a housing market like Dane County’s?

– Tiffany: I’d say number one is budgeting.

– Myesha: Absolutely.

– Tiffany: Find out where you are on paper.

– Angela: That’s a four-letter word. Because once you write down those bills, what you have coming in and going out. Like, you check yourself real quick, and you’re like, did I really spend $500 this month on fast food? You, like, check yourself in the door.

– Yeah.

– So, like, you don’t, I don’t think people really know how much money they have until they put it down on paper.

– Myesha: Absolutely.

– Because it looks like you’re making $35 an hour on paper.

– Angela: I’m good.

– Tiffany: But taxes, insurance. That’s like nothing.

– Angela: Watch more Why Race Matters online and on the PBS app on your phone, tablet, Roku, or any other streaming device.

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