FUNDAMENTALS
CHANGE
WhyAdvocacy in Real Estate Investing Is Imperative
USING YOUR VOICE TO LEVEL THE PLAYING FIELD
by Sonia Booker, a Think Realty Resident Expert
or much of my life, I have considered myself an advo-
This is how advocacy begins: you see something, you say something, and then you realize that hun- dreds of others share your views. I remember when I started invest- ing. The market was so small, and I pretty much knew all the real estate investors in my area. Many investors got into the business because they inherited property, or it was something that their fami- ly had done for years. Much of how the market worked was passed down from generation to genera- tion. I remember wanting to work with certain investors because of what I could learn from them. They had tremendous reputations
for doing what was right—provid- ing fair housing and selling other investors’ properties where there was an ability to make money. Because the market was so small, we would regulate ourselves. There were tons of unwritten rules. Seemingly simple things like if you were a wholesale investor, you sold properly quickly for a 10-20 per- cent return. It wasn’t like these big double-your-money type of whole- sale fees sometimes being charged. As the market grew, came more challenges. It was no longer slow and steady wins the race, it was like let’s make all the money ... today. With these kinds of big changes seem-
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cate, and, with full disclosure, not because I wanted to be but because of the issues that I saw that need- ed a voice. Instead of being qui- et, I decided that I had to become what I saw was needed. Speaking to injustices is never fun; in fact, it takes a high level of courage. I first began advocating for women’s issues, especially financial matters. I wanted women to see clear paths to their success. I have been in the real estate industry for the last 20 years, and shortly after starting, I began to see so much wrong, and I began to talk about those issues.
56 | think realty magazine :: december 2021
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