Does Diversity Matter in Real Estate? (Yes, I'm Going There)

1916 Annual Convention of NAREB (later NAR)
1916 Annual Convention of NAREB (later NAR)

I was supposed to moderate a track of panels at Inman called Provoke, and I was really looking forward to some of those conversations, until a family situation arose that makes attending Inman impossible. (We’re all fine; my ex has to be out of the country, so I need to make sure my two boys don’t die of starvation or are eaten by feral hogs….)

There was one panel in particular that I thought would be the most interesting and yet the most dangerous, and therefore the most subject to politically correct silence. This is the panel on diversity whose title and tagline are as follows:

The Word “Diversity” is PC hogwash, unless….
LGBT, ethnic diversity, glass ceilings, tran bathrooms. How much is feel good, how much is token blather, how much is  smart business and how do you commit to truly changing your own workplace and habits.

I had the preparatory conference call with the panelists, and I think they will do a bang-up job presenting their case, and their point of view. Kim Colaprete, Jasmyn Jefferson, and Marquise Murphy all struck me as intelligent, caring, successful professionals with a really valid and interesting perspective. I was looking forward to the conversation on stage, and then the inevitable conversations in lobbycons and dinner meetings with friends old and new at Inman.

So, since I can’t be there, I figured I should have that conversation here on Notorious. Because we’re not afraid to have the tough conversations here, and yeah, we’re going there.

Let me frame the essential question this way:

Does diversity matter in real estate? Why or why not?

My answer, as I think you’ll see, is a bit of both.

What Does Diversity Actually Mean?

One of the threshold problems with this topic is that terms and phrases are not well-defined. I mean, what does that term “diversity” even mean?

Does it mean that the people in an institution, an industry, or in certain positions, should reflect the various percentages of various identities in the general population? So in the case of real estate, since 58% of the REALTORS are female, then 58% of the leaders of various real estate institutions ought to be female?

I doubt anyone would subscribe to that kind of rigid numbers-and-quota-based type of definition of diversity… thought some might.

Does “diversity” mean something a bit more… shall I say prescriptive and normative than descriptive and empirical? Meaning, does “diversity” really mean multi-cultural understanding and “inclusion” (another word that is ill-defined). For example, here’s one definition of diversity from the educational field:

Diversity can be defined as the sum of the ways that people are both alike and different. The dimensions of diversity include race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, language, culture, religion, mental and physical ability, class, and immigration status. While diversity itself is not a value-laden term, the way that people react to diversity is driven by values, attitudes, beliefs, and so on. Full acceptance of diversity is a major principle of social justice.

— Definition from NEA (National Education Association)

That particular definition states that diversity itself is not a value-laden term. But “inclusion” is:

Inclusion is defined as, “The active, intentional, and ongoing engagement with diversity—in people, in the curriculum, in the co-curriculum, and in communities (intellectual, social, cultural, geographical) with which individuals might connect—in ways that increase one’s awareness, content knowledge, cognitive sophistication, and empathic understanding of the complex ways individuals interact within systems and institutions” (AAC&U, 2009, ¶ 3). University of Arizona

Perhaps what one means by “diversity” incorporates this idea of inclusion as active engagement to increase people’s awareness, knowledge, and empathic understanding of other people and their differences as well as similarities.

Let’s go with that inclusive definition of diversity, as a normative, value-laden term, rather than a yawn-boring “the ways that people are alike and different” value-neutral term. Because it certainly seems that people talk about diversity in a moral, normative way, rather than a dry, scientific way.

Does Diversity Matter in Real Estate?

What I found so interesting in the prep call is how all three panelists described situations from their personal and professional lives that were offensive, or at the very least, insensitive. As an Asian-American, I understand 100% what they mean. People mistake me for Lawrence Yun (understandable) and Nobu Hata (you have got to be crazy or blind) all the time.

This, I understand completely.
This, I understand completely.
nobu-me-christophe
This, I do not, at all.

Now, I have fun with it, and I think the doppleganger thing is funny, but from a certain perspective on “diversity” and sensitivity, there is an element of that good old chestnut: “All Asians look alike.”

So yes, stories of gay REALTORS having to deal with offensive or insensitive or outright homophobic comments or actions resonate with me. And as one of the panelists put it, “the old white religious people who don’t even know they’re being offensive” is likely a problem.

Having said that, I do wonder if we’re losing sight of the forest for the trees.

I asked this of the panelists, and told them I would bring it up, to explore the concept, so I’ll ask it here.

Isn’t there a danger of going too far with the don’t-offend-you-don’t-understand angle of diversity to where the notion becomes that in order to properly serve a client, the REALTOR must fit every aspect of that client?

Meaning, isn’t there a whiff of the idea that only a black REALTOR could serve a black home buyer without giving offense or being insensitive? Or that gay homeowners should only be served by gay realtors, and so on?

In that context, I have to say, I don’t think diversity matters one bit.

If I am selling my house, I don’t much care if you’re white, black, lesbian, straight, kids, no kids, married, unmarried, Muslim, Mormon, snake-handling charismatic, or God-Is-Dead atheist. All I care about is your competence, your ability to market and sell my home for the most money in the shortest period of time with the least amount of pain. We don’t have to be best friends, we don’t have to go out to enjoy some tasty kkori-gomtang, and frankly, you don’t have to know jackshit about the Chinese Exclusion Act or be all that sensitive to my cultural, religious, political, racial, or whatever-else sensitivities. In fact, you could call me a chink all day long if you sell my house for 20% over asking. (Actually, no, you can’t do that, because that would be intentional disrespect.)

A buyer, a seller, a renter, a landlord — what they need and deserve from a real estate professional isn’t some deep-seated cognitive awareness and empathic understanding about what it’s like to be race/gender/ethnicity/blah blah blah. No, it is stone cold professionalism, knowledge of real estate, deep-seated cognitive awareness of the market conditions, and understanding of how to help me achieve my real estate goals.

This is one way I think being a real estate agent is different from being say a teacher, whose whole job is focused around education and awakening thinking in her students.

Counter-Argument?

Now, a counter argument to the above could be that diversity-awareness makes one a better real estate agent. That would go something like, being cognitively aware of cultural, racial, sexual differences, and having that deep empathic understanding actually makes you a better REALTOR. Maybe. I’m not sure how though. If one of you — the best-informed audience in real estate — can explain that to me, I’m open to considering it.

As I see it, say someone is intimately aware of my “diversity”. How would that change her advice, or her negotiation ability, or her marketing strategy? Is she going to say, “Hey, look, Rob… since you’re a gun-totin’, conservative, Ivy League educated immigrant from New Jersey, you really ought to look at homes in this neighborhood and not that one?” Of course not! That would be steering. Is she going to negotiate the purchase offer and say to the other agent, “Look, you have to understand that my client is Asian, so getting a bargain is really important to him culturally….” Of course not; that would be straight up racist.

Again, maybe I’m missing something, but I honestly can’t see how diversity, inclusion, sensitivity, and so on makes you a better real estate professional. It might make you a better person, a better citizen of the increasingly multicultural society we live in, a more pleasant individual to go have a drink with, but a better REALTOR? I don’t see it. But as I said, if you can explain it better than I have, please, let us all know in the comments, or message me privately if you’re uncomfortable with this sensitive topic.

Where Diversity Does Make A Difference

So in the actual practice of real estate, I don’t believe diversity makes one damn bit of difference. Competence does. Real estate knowledge does. Ethics does. But diversity? No.

I do think, however, that there is a place for diversity-inclusiveness in real estate. And that is in our institutions.

There is a valid question to be asked as to why only 7% of REALTORS are Hispanic, and only 4% are African-American. And the reason to ask that question is because of the documented, unarguable, and clearly racist history of REALTOR Associations in the 20th century.

I won’t go into it in depth, since you can Google it yourself, but there is a reason why the NAREB exists: because black people were not allowed to be members of NAR in 1947 when NAREB was founded.

It is unarguable that REALTORS, who were members of NAR, engineered and participated in the racist practice of blockbusting in the 60’s. From the article “Confessions of a Blockbuster” first published in 1962 in Saturday Evening Post:

The Chicago Real Estate Board, an organization of the city’s most prominent realtors, all but ordained the “cave-in” method in a policy laid down in 1917: “It is desired in the interest of all that each block shall be filled solidly (with Negroes) and that further expansion shall be confined to contiguous blocks. . . .”

The board, which is all white, no longer makes a copy of this statement available in its office, but the policy never has been rescinded or repudiated. None of the board’s 1700 members violates it. No member, if he deals with Negroes at all, is likely to arrange for a sale to them in a white neighborhood that is not next to a “Negro block.” Once a neighborhood begins changing, none will show homes there to whites. [Emphasis added]

We can’t deny these things happened, anymore than we can deny that slavery existed or that Jim Crow laws existed or that we once put people in prison for the crime of homosexual sodomy. American history does have huge chunks in it that we look back now with great regret.

It goes without saying that NAR today in 2016 is nothing like NAR in 1962. If anything, organized real estate is even more inclusive, even more open, than general society is today.

Nonetheless, as one of the most important institutions that set policy for real estate by regulating its membership, there is a strong argument to be made for diversity and inclusion within organized real estate. Perhaps having the perspective of a young black lesbian REALTOR on the Board of the local MLS might change how the leadership views some policy regarding rentals in the MLS; perhaps it does not. But having diversity there, on the Board, in leadership, could be a real positive.

There is also a strong argument to be made for more diversity and inclusion within some of our largest brokerages and technology companies, not for social-justice purposes, but for practical, business purposes. Marketing to Hispanics might be more effective if there were executives in your company who are Hispanic, or really understand that culture in a deeply cognitive and empathic way.

Final Observation: Diversity Cuts Both Ways, No?

Let me make a final observation, because… well… maybe I’m uniquely positioned to make it.

As most of my regular readers know, I’m an immigrant and  racial minority. I am also a member of the 1% in terms of education and income. And I am a gun-totin’, Ted Cruz votin’, Milton Friedman-lovin’ Constitutional conservative. I enjoy the hell out of Waylon Jennings and Tupac and Disturbed and Puccini operas. What can I say? I’m weird and unique that way.

So I think that diversity and inclusion cannot cut just one way. Diversity can’t demand deep empathic understanding to avoid offending gay people without also demanding deep empathic understanding to avoid offending conservative Christians. Inclusion cannot simply be a one-way road demanding that old white guys be sensitive to the needs and wants of young Latinos; true diversity and inclusion must also demand that the young black lesbian from San Francisco be sensitive to the needs and wants of the old white guy who goes hunting every month and thinks Obama is a terrible president. If it’s not cool to look down on young black men in poor urban neighborhoods as thugs, then it’s also not cool to disparage white people who shop at Walmart as trailer trash.

As is always the case when there are so many differences between us, it’s helpful to find that vast background of agreement against which we disagree in a small number of things. For real estate, to me, that vast background of agreement is this:

All of us, whether REALTORS on the street, the brokers who manage them, the Association Executive who organizes them, the MLS that governs their business practices, or consultants who advise them, or tech companies that try to sell them this and that tool — all of us ultimately are trying to do the same thing: to help buyers and sellers and renters and landlords achieve their real estate goals and dreams in the best way possible. That’s it. That’s the core.

We can all differ on how best to do that, but let’s not lose sight of the fact that what we’re trying to do as best we can as imperfect humans is that: help people achieve their American dream.

-rsh

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Rob Hahn

Rob Hahn

Managing Partner of 7DS Associates, and the grand poobah of this here blog. Once called "a revolutionary in a really nice suit", people often wonder what I do for a living because I have the temerity to not talk about my clients and my work for clients. Suffice to say that I do strategy work for some of the largest organizations and companies in real estate, as well as some of the smallest startups and agent teams, but usually only on projects that interest me with big implications for reforming this wonderful, crazy, lovable yet frustrating real estate industry of ours.

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15 thoughts on “Does Diversity Matter in Real Estate? (Yes, I'm Going There)”

  1. “Nonetheless, as one of the most important institutions that set policy for real estate by regulating its membership, there is a strong argument to be made for diversity and inclusion within organized real estate. Perhaps having the perspective of a young black lesbian REALTOR on the Board of the local MLS might change how the leadership views some policy regarding rentals in the MLS; perhaps it does not. But having diversity there, on the Board, in leadership, could be a real positive.”

    I don’t know what Association or MLS policies can be impacted based on diversity. Definitely not your example of rentals. This does and should fall under Fair Housing. If ethnicity, gender or race can impact the rules of these orgs, then there are most likely policies/rules that are violating Fed law. Am I missing something here?

      • I have an example. I am not a young black lesbian on the local association board, but I am a young black female who served on my local association board and currently our state association board. While my mere presence did not change association or MLS policy, it did assist in providing a different vantage point than those who do not look like me, who do not think like me, who do not share the same experiences as me. Specifically, our association came out with a GREAT marketing campaign called “REALTORS, like matchmakers, but for homes”. The premise behind these ads was to promote the use of a REALTOR when buying or selling a home. This campaign was led by the marketing committee. Not far away in another room the diversity committee was struggling to somehow promote homeownership in underserved communities, specifically the black community as our state holds the not-so-prestigious title of having the largest disparities gap between white and minority homeowners in the country. Like the marketing committee, the diversity committee intended to demonstrate the benefits of homeownership through video illustrating minorities owning homes and using a REALTOR to purchase them. This was hoped to be accomplished with only a fraction of the budget given to the marketing committee. Now, someone reading this may say “Why not just make one video? Why the need for two separate committees and two separate vidoes?” Great question! Which is why and how my presence introduced the conversation and need to work collaboratively. While it did not impact policy, I certainly hope it impactsthe outcome of the next video. Not sure if I made my point or even if this comment was helpful, but I hope so.

  2. The old me would’ve been all over this w/ real life stories from personal experiences (being young & a minority in a dominate older majority) to the behaviors of other agents and brokers. Then I learned better.

    The evolved me says, “Thank you for bringing this up. Thank you for making an effort. I hope something good comes of it.”

    This issue is way beyond the capacities of the current organization to improve. Honestly, just LOOK. It’s easy to see if seeing truth is accepted. Yes, please talk about diversity, but what people say and what they do aren’t always aligned. Self-awareness is a rare trait.

    I randomly watched Joe Biden on Morning Joe. Both of these aren’t a regular thing, but he hit the nail on the head: (summary) No matter which side one was on, we used to talk with each other, spend time getting to know each others’ families & kids, seeing the humanity of the person makes it harder to attack.

    Now, we take great comfort in like-kind conformity for comfort, security and survival. Division happens, because it feeds on itself. It’s more natural. Diversity can happen the same way, but it takes more effort … an active willingness to try. Naturally reduce that effort and progress would be easier made. How? Time.

    We have fair housing laws, but they will never overcome natural human behavior from folks who grew up in a different time. Beliefs of young tend to be beliefs of old. Only time and generational shifts will help, but then new divisions will form: hello luxury versus middle class, educated vs non, etc. Look up Howe Generational Theory if you really want a great eye opener to human cycles.

    Again, thank you not only for all you write, but very much for taking great effort on this topic.

  3. I do business with people that look like you, Asian,my doctor,dentist etc.but I have never been able get a listing or a buyer from them, oops, now I can expect a visit from the pc police,but then I am an old white man hetrosexual,much privileged.

  4. “…I’m an immigrant and racial minority. I am also a member of the 1% in terms of education and income. And I am a gun-totin’, Ted Cruz votin’, Milton Friedman-lovin’ Constitutional conservative. I enjoy the hell out of Waylon Jennings and Tupac and Disturbed and Puccini operas.”

    As such, your needs and expectations of a real estate professional are simple: sell your house for the most money in the shortest amount of time. For someone who isn’t in the top 1% of income and education, the needs differ. For many, buying or selling a home is extremely stressful. Those people need someone they can trust beyond professionalism, because they are putting their economic welfare and that of their family in the Realtor’s hands. In this case, empathy builds trust. There is a lot of risk to the buyer or seller in this instance, so emotions run high, and trust is essential for a smooth transaction. That does not mean that I, as a well educated, well traveled, well read, anti-gun, Hillary-votin’, Obama lovin’ constitutionally progressive member of a religious minority who enjoys the hell out of classic rock, Disturbed, and Shakespearean comedies, cannot serve someone who doesn’t look and act just like me. But I must be aware that my values aren’t theirs. In the close and highly emotional work of a real estate transaction, that sensitivity can make the difference between a successful transaction and subsequent referrals or complaints of fair housing violations and loss of my license.

    Besides, my liberal heart feels better.

    • Thanks Beth for the comment. I would like to investigate a bit further…

      “For someone who isn’t in the top 1% of income and education, the needs differ.”

      Can you illuminate how their needs differ from mine? Is someone who is poor and black not interested in most money in the shortest amount of time?

      “But I must be aware that my values aren’t theirs. In the close and highly emotional work of a real estate transaction, that sensitivity can make the difference between a successful transaction and subsequent referrals or complaints of fair housing violations and loss of my license.”

      First, I think your first statement is kind of what my gut sense is. I’d have no trouble asking you, a Hillary-votin’, Obama-lovin’, anti-gun, socialist, to help me buy a house because I think you would be a great professional to give me neighborhood, housing, and transactional advice. We don’t have to go to the gun range together for that relationship to be successful.

      Second, I guess I’m curious about that sensitivity making a difference. I’m sure it’s happened, but not being a REALTOR, I have no personal experience of it. Could you give us an example where that applied to you, where the diversity sensitivity outside of just being a conscientious REALTOR serving your client to the best of your ability meant the difference you speak of?

      • Rob, I feel that a person who isn’t in the top 1% might need and want more help going through the process. They may not have the experience and skill set needed to understand the contract and navigate the sometimes intimidating process of buying or selling a home.

        As for specific examples, I’ve worked with Asian people who would not buy a home if someone had died in it or who felt that a house with a 4 in the address was bad luck. I’ve worked with disabled people who needed extra help understanding the paperwork. I’ve worked with people for whom English is a second language who needed extra time to build the trust relationship necessary for large business transactions that is typical in their culture. I’ve worked with registered sex offenders (I know, not a protected class!) that, by the terms of their release, may not live within a stated distance of a place where children gather.

        While all of these people could be helped by any Realtor doing their job, someone with a sensitivity to their difficulties is able to build a relationship that will give them confidence and that will survive the transaction.

        That doesn’t preclude their getting the best price in the shortest amount of time, but it may take a bit more understanding to reach that goal. Some Realtors choose not to work with clients who take so much time and effort to get through the transaction, but I enjoy it.

  5. Only 4 comments? Wow, I hope it’s not because people are so afraid to touch on this subject nowadays.

    “Now, a counter argument to the above could be that diversity-awareness makes one a better real estate agent. That would go something like, being cognitively aware of cultural, racial, sexual differences, and having that deep empathic understanding actually makes you a better REALTOR. Maybe. I’m not sure how though. If one of you — the best-informed audience in real estate — can explain that to me, I’m open to considering it.”

    Just a couple examples to consider regarding this statement:

    – A few years ago, I worked for an investor, who was of Indian descent. Contract negotiations and getting contracts to closing with him were not pleasant. After I lived in India for a few months (due to my husband’s temporary assignment), many of the issues I had with this investor went away. Learning his culture and the art of negotiation of his home country and WHY he acted the way he did, helped me become a better agent for my client.

    – At the present time, I have 2 closings with Shariah law compliant lenders. They operate differently and I am not well versed in their process. I do believe there may be some items regarding lending in our standard contract that conflict with the way these mortgages are handled. Unfortunately, I can’t find much information to assist in my education and ability to be better informed for my clients.

    I feel that more often than not, people are so concerned about “treading carefully” with racial/cultural issues that they end up accepting ignorance over a possible conflict.

  6. NR~ great post as always! And I agree “diversity does matter.” And speaking of “diversity” Ted Cruz voting? Not only shocking but very diverse as well!

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