'We’re gonna get there': Realtor nears goal of 1,000 Black homeowners by end of 2025

    KANSAS CITY, Missouri (KSHB) -- When you walk into the lower level of Keys Realty Group Inc., at East 58th St. and Swope Parkway., you'll see a life-size Monopoly board.

The game board reflects how the agency guides some hopeful first-time homeowners through buying a home.

Tenesia Brown, a real estate broker who's been in the business for 21 years, and founder of Keys Realty Group Inc., decided several years ago she had a larger calling for the Kansas City community.

"If I can get 1,000 new Black and brown homeowners, then I know I've contributed to closing the gap," Brown said.

She's only 120 homeowners away from her goal.

In 2018, Brown's efforts began following the milestone anniversary of the Fair Housing Act, a law that bans housing discrimination.

"It was the 50th anniversary of the Fair Housing Act," she said. "Being in the industry, I understood we still don’t have fair housing. Therefore, what are we celebrating? Or what can I do in order to help us have fair housing or at least fulfill an unfilled promise?"

That's when she came up with the Kansas City Urban Core Homes Show and Bus Tour.

The tour allows participants to see homes on the market while bringing resources like lenders, credit, and budget specialists directly to them.

Brown thought it would be a one-time event, but it inspired her to try another idea.

She would push for new 1,000 Black and brown homeowners in the city.

Tannon Caskey wasn't sold on buying a home until he went on the tour.

"I didn’t know how to go about it. I had all these doubts and I was like, 'I’m single, do I need a home?"' Caskey said.

Now, he owns a home and rents it out.

Caskey said he's been encouraging his circle of friends to go for it, too.

"Whoever the messenger is, that’s what people will grasp," he said. "There are different programs for us to accelerate and excel in. People are catching on, but not fast enough."

Black homeownership, according to The Urban Institute, increased by 2% between 2019 and 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Urban Institute reports black homeownership is lower now than in 2000.

"We tend to look at issues and let them become barriers without realizing we can go over it," Brown said. "We can go under it. We can go around it and we can work through it."

Brown has potential home buyers play their life-size monopoly game, revealing some of the highs and lows if they are going through the process.

She encourages current and potential clients to invest while being honest that it's not always smooth sailing.

"Some people are working poor," she said. "They have jobs, so it's not like they aren't working, but their expenses are really high. I tell people bad credit is expensive."

Though home ownership can be a roll of the dice, Brown is advocating for more people to try.

"We have been left out of opportunities to obtain homeownership for far, far, far too long," she said. "Every year you decide not to buy is the year you are giving up wealth."

Tannon Caskey said he's encouraged by Brown's initiative and its impact on him.

One day, he wants to educate others about homeownership and pour back into the community, too.

"My next step is getting rental properties and selling them to my Black and brown folks," he said.

Brown's tour has helped establish 880 new homeowners.