Photo by Glenda Mitchell - @gm.creativephoto
Jess Annabelle
Jess Annabelle
Real estate agent Jess Annabelle is building a team to achieve racial equity and queer inclusion when it comes to home ownership. As director of Brick & Banister Milwaukee, Annabelle loves their job because they spend the majority of their time working directly with people they deeply admire as they find their new homes.
Born in Detroit and raised in Milwaukee, Jess Annabelle attended college in the Twin Cities and worked for about a decade helping educators build better relationships with their students of color. They noticed over time that more and more students were homeless. “Whether or not your homework is done, if you don’t have a safe place indoors to eat and sleep, that feels like a first priority,” Annabelle says.
Having experienced unstable housing themself as a queer person , Annabelle found this to be their turning point, continuing, “Stability is what I could’ve used more as a kid, and I know that’s true for so many more Milwaukee kids.”
Annabelle acquired their real estate license in 2022. Aligning their vision with that of Milwaukee County’s, they see achieving racial equity in Milwaukee as a call to action for organizers and professionals alike. “We live in one of the most segregated cities in the country and have some of the greatest racial disparities in home ownership, incomes and wealth,” Annabelle elaborates. “By definition, being a real estate agent in Milwaukee to me means making equity and inclusion the core part of my practice. A healthy community enables each and every person to have the opportunity to do everything they dream of despite very real hardships.”
Never Say Never
Clients have come to Annabelle saying that other realtors and loan officers told them they would never be able to buy a home. “I made a promise to myself that I’d never say that to someone,” Annabelle affirms. “I always say “here’s how” instead. That’s what being a talented real estate professional is all about.”
Sixty percent of Annabelle’s clientele in their first year of real estate included Black and Brown families while about 25 percent of families included trans people. They emphasize, “In our trans communities, safe and stable housing can still be a matter of life and death.”
Annabelle explains that the easiest way to build credit is to do so with cheap expenses. “Pick something like coffees or gas or visits to the bookstore. Only use your credit card for that and then pay it in full every single month. Then you’re not paying off more than what you’re making.”
|
|
Milwaukee faces two major housing challenges. Predatory out-of-state landlords are buying up homes and gentrifying neighborhoods, plus the housing market right now is less affordable than ever. “In terms of our home ownership gaps and disparities, there’s a tremendous responsibility for the entire real estate profession to look at our own businesses and see if they are reflective of our city’s demographics,” Annabelle reflects. “If not, we have to diversify our clientele and improve our service to our communities and our city - urgently.”
An estimated 53 percent of Milwaukee residents are people of color. According to county data, Milwaukee needs over 32,000 more homeowners of color in order to achieve racial equity in home ownership. In terms of what they would like to see more of from fellow Milwaukee real estate offices, Annabelle wants to see racial equity in home ownership achieved in the next ten years. “That’s only seven or eight of the best teams in the city doing business as usual, but equitably,” they note. “Thirty-two thousand is not a big number in real estate at all. I am just one person, but together, a lot is possible. This is an achievable goal, and it needs to be pursued aggressively, ambitiously and collectively.”
Jess Annabelle shares a recent success story, “I was at Pride and ran into a queer couple I worked with this spring who called me because their landlord was giving them three weeks' notice to vacate. We looked into their buying options, and we were able to get them pre-approved for a mortgage, shopping for a home and buying one in under three weeks. That’s about as fast as it can be done. Last night, they told me about everything they’re planting in their garden and how the neighbors have been helping them get comfortable.”
Get in touch with Jess Annabelle via email at jess@brickandbanister.com or Instagram @mkerealtorjess. For Brick & Banister Milwaukee, visit https://link.edgepilot.com/s/0c549572/KUKoZRCFoUCsm59linNc3g?u=https://www.brickandbanistermke.com/.
