Implicit bias and the historically difficult path to homeownership for communities of color will be highlighted at the REALTORS® Conference & Expo.

The National Association of REALTORS®’ fair housing team will present two sessions at the 2021 REALTORS® Conference & Expo(link is external) that offer attendees the opportunity to explore the history of racial discrimination in real estate and to examine and overcome their own hidden biases.

“Bias Override: Overcoming Barriers to Fair Housing,” new implicit bias classroom training that will be offered next year by NAR, helps real estate professionals learn tactics to interrupt stereotypical thinking so that they can provide equal professional service to every prospect or client. A preview of the training, presented by Afua Addo(link is external), deputy director of programs and training at the Perception Institute(link is external), will engage participants in exercises to build new habits of equitable behavior.

The course, which expands on the 50-minute implicit bias training video released by NAR in 2020, was piloted in New York, Washington, and Texas this summer. It aims to help real estate professionals explore the assumptions they don’t know they’re making, examine their ideas about people from other identity groups, and learn how to be more comfortable working across lines of difference.

The three-hour classroom course will qualify for CE credit and will be offered by the Center for REALTOR® Development and taught by experienced At Home With Diversity instructors. Any REALTOR® association that is a licensed provider of CRD content will be eligible to provide the training.

“The Past and Future of Family Properties: Overcoming Real Estate’s Historic Harms to Communities of Color” session will feature Dr. Beryl Satter(link is external), professor of history at Rutgers University, who tells a deeply personal story of the ways Black Americans in 1960s Chicago were not only excluded from building intergenerational wealth through homeownership but also preyed upon by unscrupulous real estate operators who drained billions of dollars from their community. Dr. Satter’s father was a lawyer who owned rental properties and defended Black clients from these practices. Mabél Guzmán, a broker from Chicago and 2020 vice president of association affairs for NAR, will join Dr. Satter to examine the obstacles this history still creates today and what REALTORS® are doing to ensure that their profession helps all Americans build wealth and community.

©National Association of REALTORS®
Reprinted with permission

Victims of the recent Colorado blaze, which was the most destructive wildfire in the state’s history, may soon learn that rising construction costs have increased the cost of rebuilding beyond what their insurance coverage allows.

About 1,000 homes were destroyed in Colorado’s Marshall Fire, which destroyed homes and businesses in the suburbs between Denver and Boulder. Losses from the wildfire are expected to reach $1 billion.

While most homeowner victims are believed to have insurance, observers say many may not have enough to cover the extent of their losses.

“There are individuals in both impacted areas that are either uninsured or did not have adequate coverage in place to compensate for their losses,” Erin Collins, a senior vice president at the National Association of Mutual Insurance Cos., told The Wall Street Journal.

In general, about two-thirds of fire victims nationally tend to be underinsured, according to United Policyholders surveys.

Many homeowners are unsure of how much coverage they need. Also, some may opt for cheaper policies to keep annual premiums lower.

“There is likely going to be an issue about underinsurance” from inadequate coverage and continuing inflation, Michael Conway, Colorado insurance commissioner, told The Wall Street Journal. “There is so much that will be in flux about inflation, building costs, labor costs that when we get to the point we are rebuilding these homes, the world will likely look much different.” Construction will likely not get underway for another two years.

Also, the Federal Emergency Management Agency provides some financial assistance for underinsurance to help homeowners, Conway said.

The magnitude of the home repairs likely will further strain both builder supply chains and builders who had already been stretched thin as they tried to meet the region’s buyer demand, experts note.

©National Association of REALTORS®
Reprinted with permission

Deadly fires in recent weeks have prompted calls for greater fire safety in homes and buildings.

The increase in calls for action has occurred following a recent fire in an apartment building in New York City’s Bronx borough, where at least 19 people died, followed by a fire in a Philadelphia row house that killed 12.

An average of about 3,500 people died in fires per year between 2010 and 2019, according to the U.S. Fire Administration. That number is rising.

Construction experts say that homes and buildings are at greater risk because more materials in the building of homes and furniture are more flammable than they used to be. The widespread use of synthetic materials is increasing the risk, they say.

Today, people have just three minutes to escape a home fire, according to UL, a safety certification company. About 40 years ago, homeowners had about 17 minutes to escape from a similar fire.

“Combustible materials are those that readily ignite and burn,” Stephen Quarles, an expert in construction materials and fire and mitigation strategies, told MarketWatch. “Many common construction materials are combustible, including wood and wood-plastic composite and plastic products (commonly used for decking and siding).”

About 90% of homes built in the U.S. are wood-framed, according to the National Association of Home Builders.

The most common cause of fires is cooking, followed by heating a home, according to the National Fire Protection Association. The recent deadly fire in the Bronx was reportedly caused by a malfunctioning space heater.

Fire experts say there are several ways for homeowners and renters to lower their risk, such as not leaving hot stoves or space heaters unattended. But they also recommend closing all doors to prevent fires from spreading quickly. This includes closing the doors to bedrooms at night. UL research shows that could possibly protect occupants if a fire started elsewhere in the home or apartment. Closed doors and windows can help prevent the fire from having enough oxygen to burn and spread. It could give people more time to get out in a fire, Steve Kerber, vice president and executive director of UL’s Fire Safety Research Institute, told MarketWatch.

©National Association of REALTORS®
Reprinted with permission

Real estate opportunists in several states in the Midwest are using a loophole in “quiet title” laws to seize control of people’s homes, mostly targeting immigrants, Iowa Public Radio reports.

In one case, a 72-year-old immigrant, originally from Mexico, says when she returned to her home of more than 20 years in Marshalltown, Iowa, she found someone had assumed a legal title and put her home up for sale.

Quiet title actions are usually used to resolve boundary disputes or determine who owns a property after someone passes away. But opportunists reportedly are exploiting vaguely written laws in some municipalities to make an argument that the property has been abandoned and thus take possession.

The actual property owner may not receive notifications that this is happening. The petitioner can argue that the most recent owner can’t be found—in the above case, the homeowner was out of the country at the time. Homeowners also may miss the small-print public notice printed in the local newspaper about it, as in the Iowa case. If homeowners fail to show up in court to argue their side, the other party can claim ownership of the home.

Law experts are concerned the law is being misused or unfairly wielded against immigrants, who may miss notices in English-language newspapers.

Between 2018 and 2021, 55 quiet title petitions were filed in Marshall County, around Marshalltown, alone. Housing advocates warn that similar quiet title laws could put properties at risk in Missouri, Nebraska, and Kansas as well.

“I’d say the average person knows absolutely nothing about quieting titles or even what the title is,” Mike White, a real estate attorney based in Kansas City, Mo., told Iowa Public Radio.

©National Association of REALTORS®
Reprinted with permission

SentriLock, a real estate lockbox company backed by the National Association of REALTORS®, has filed a lawsuit against its competitor Supra, alleging patent infringement related to its lockbox technology.

SentriLock alleges Supra’s parent company, Carrier Global, of knowingly copying its technology and repeatedly warned Supra of the infringement. In a statement released Tuesday, SentriLock stated that it filed the lawsuit to put an end to the infringement and to recover the damages it sustained.

“Innovation in the real estate technology sector takes capital and time—and it’s the foundation of our commitment to the industry,” Scott Fisher, SentriLock founder and president, said in a statement announcing the lawsuit. “If Supra is permitted to profit from patents that it does not own, a chilling message will be sent to others in the industry that this illegal activity is acceptable, and that investments in innovation may not be able to be recouped by companies like ours who heavily invest in improving technology for our customers.”

©National Association of REALTORS®
Reprinted with permission

Black homeowners believe appraisal discrimination is rampant, a new survey from LendingTree finds.

Overall, 23% of homeowners of all races believe their home appraisal is too low. But the consumers who are most likely to feel that way are Blacks (32%) and LGBTQ+ homeowners (31%), the survey finds.

Despite the fact that appraisers are prohibited from considering protected classes under the Fair Housing Act in the development of a property valuation, more than half—58%–of Black homeowners believe that race, sexual orientation, or another protected demographic is factored into an appraisal, LendingTree’s analysis finds. One in four Black homeowners who’ve ordered a home appraisal say they’ve even tried to conceal their race from the appraiser. Only 11% of white homeowners said they tried to do the same.

“The more data collected on how people of different races, sexual orientation, or genders have their homes appraised, the easier it would be to identify any problems,” says Jacob Channel, LendingTree’s senior economic analyst.

©National Association of REALTORS®
Reprinted with permission

The U.S. homeownership rate has posted its highest annual rise on record, reaching 65.5% in 2020, 1.3 percentage points over the year before. Hispanic homeownership soared to a record high and is above 50% for the first time on record.

However, Black homeownership continues to lag and has fallen to a lower level than it was a decade ago, according to a report from the National Association of REALTORS®. Black homeowners continue to face significant obstacles to homeownership, like high levels of student debt. They also are among the most likely—along with Hispanic applicants—to be rejected for mortgage loans, the report says.

The homeownership rate for Black Americans is 43.4%, trailing the 2010 rate of 44.2%. By contrast, the homeownership rate for White Americans is 72.1%, 61.7% for Asian Americans, and 51.1% for Hispanic Americans. NAR’s 2022 Snapshot of Race and Home Buying in America report analyzes homeownership trends and identifies housing challenges by race.

Affordability Challenges Persist

“As the gap in homeownership rates for Black and White Americans has widened, it is important to understand the unique challenges that minority home buyers face,” says Jessica Lautz, NAR’s vice president of demographics and behavioral insights. “Housing affordability and low inventory has made it even more challenging for all buyers to enter into homeownership, but even more so for Black Americans.”

Since 2019, the price of the typical home has risen by 30%, or by about $80,000, according to NAR. About half—51%—of all homes currently listed for sale are affordable to households with an income of $100,000 or more. However, only 20% of Black households have incomes greater than $100,000. In comparison, 35% of White households have incomes of more than $100,000, while 25% of Hispanic American households and nearly half of Asian American households reach that level.

Higher rental costs are also pressing on household budgets. Half of Black Americans spend more than 30% of their monthly income on rent. Nearly three out of 10 Black renter households (28%) and one in five White renter households (20%) are considered severely cost-burdened. That is defined as spending more than 50% of a household’s monthly income on rent.

“Black households not only spend a bigger portion of their income on rent, but they are also more likely to hold student debt and have higher balances,” Lautz says. “This makes it difficult for Black households to save for a down payment and as a result, they often use their 401(k) or retirement savings to enter homeownership.”

Speaking Up for Fair Housing

NAR has taken an active role to combat the racial homeownership gap. The association serves on the steering committee of the Black Homeownership Collaborative(link is external), which has a seven-point plan charged with increasing Black homeownership by a net 3 million by 2030. NAR also has its ACT plan, which emphasizes “Accountability, Culture Change, and Training” to advance fair housing in the industry. NAR offers an interactive training platform, Fairhaven, which puts real estate professionals in simulated situations where discrimination in a real estate transaction can occur. The association also offers its members an implicit bias video and classroom training to offer strategies that help real estate professionals override biases in their daily interactions.

NAR has also taken an active voice to advocate for more housing inventory and affordable housing, which includes expanding and creating tax incentives and zoning reforms. NAR and the Rosen Consulting Group published a report that examines the causes of America’s housing shortage and provides solutions to address it.

View the report: Housing is Critical Infrastructure: Social and Economic Benefits of Building More Housing

©National Association of REALTORS®
Reprinted with permission