To all the agents in the house,
"I can't keep up with how I'm supposed to label myself," said James Dunn, a real estate agent with eXp Realty in Los Angeles. "I tend to be perceived as Black, because that's what I look like. But I look around, and there's not a lot of peers that look like me."
Dunn grew up in Santa Monica. His father is Black, and his mother is from El Salvador. Dunn took to being an agent somewhat randomly after college when a temp placement turned him on to the work.
Now 40 years old, Dunn generates home sales in downtown L.A. and the Santa Clarita Valley. He also serves as a team growth and development leader at EXP.
Along the way, Dunn fell victim to clumsy acts of racism. During an office holiday party, his boss asked if a Christmas tree could double as a Kwanzaa tree (Dunn replied he didn't celebrate Kwanzaa). And on the phone a prospective client told him, "You're white, right?"
The clients' presumption was understandable if hurtful. Real estate agents are white. According to the National Association of Realtors, 6% of all members identify as Black and 10% as Hispanic (one could identify with more than one race).
What Dunn is vexed by, and what I am curious about, is why aren't there more agents who are racial minorities?
Some I've talked to bring up real estate's legacy of restrictive racial covenants making the profession seem racist, or at least stained by repeated acts of racism. Others say that the low barriers of entry in real estate work against minority representation: It makes the profession a clubby one that those on the outside are only dimly aware of.
I am interested in getting readers thoughts on this. You can email me at mblake@housingwire.com. And on this topic -- like any one I'll solicit opinion about going forward -- you can reply anonymously. I am most interested right now in hearing your insights about what's going on, not quoting you for an article.
On that note, thank you for the many replies I received about Compass. It seems that the company's financial disclosures reinforced many readers' view that the New York City brokerage is fundamentally shaky. Multiple agents wrote, "The emperor has no clothes."
I am fascinated to see what the next five months, and five years, will bring to Compass. I've benefited greatly from conversations with Compass agents. If anyone at Compass reading this would like to talk about your experience with the brokerage, again anonymously, please do email me.
Matthew Blake
Senior Real Estate Reporter
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