Real Estate Agents and race

[BigDGeek]

Originally Posted by FLSellout

I'm thinking of maybe getting my real estate license. However, I'm concerned about not necessarily getting certain clients due to my race. Does anyone have any information on what the market is like for black women? I know that Dallas is very segregated and I don't want to invest money and time into something that might not be the best option for me here.

Please be honest.

I can't speak for the market but I would not hesitate to use a realtor of either gender or any race as long as that realtor is honest, reputable, and dependable.

[Annikan]

We sold my rental house in Dallas just a couple of months back. We actually looked up the realtors who'd recently sold nearby and picked a random woman's name who'd sold the most recent place like ours (we wanted someone familiar with the neighborhood and people interested in the neighborhood). Anyway, she happened to be black. We hired her, she did a fabulous job and got our place sold in less than a week with a bidding war situation--I'd be happy to PM you her contact info and you can email her and ask her about her experiences. For the record, my husband and I are different ethnicities from each other and neither of us are black--ethnicity was not a factor for us in hiring, but I'm sure it would be for some people- I don't think you are crazy to question this--Dallas is not a racism free utopia. Having a non-white, non american-born husband opened my eyes to a lot of stuff that I wouldn't have noticed as a born-and-raised-white-american. I totally understand your desire to want to find out more.

Let me know if you want her details. She was really amazing--super professional, prompt, could keep up with my husband's very-micromanaging-type-personality.

[carroll4628]

I think your question is completely reasonable. Anyone whose been buying or looking at houses within the last 5+ years has surely noticed that Asian Indians prefer to have Indian realtors familiar with their buying preferences. I dare say most ethnic clients are served by their ethnic realtors. Korean - Chinese - Indian. Even British and European clients often have European realtors.

I'm not a realtor. I bought a house in Dallas in 2011. I sold my house in 2015. I "always look" to see who left business cards when I'm buying or selling. It's not just Dallas. The same happened in GA, MD and WA.

That being said, your an American Realtor who, as long as you "know" your client and can work hard to meet their needs, shouldn't have any problem. Will a Indian couple hire you? I'm not sure. Will a Hispanic couple hire you? Probably. The Chinese couple? Maybe not. Fortunately, there's an influx of Clients from California and the NE that you should have no problem assisting with their home buying needs.