Taking ground in the real estate market
African-Americans gain ground in sales locally, nationally
By GARY T. PAKULSKI
BLADE BUSINESS WRITER
HOMES have always been sweet for Tammy Armstrong.
As a child pedalling down the streets of Toledo’s Old West End, she loved glancing through windows into the stately mansions with their marble floors and brightly lit rooms.
So it’s not surprising that, as an adult, she found her way into real estate. “I was always fascinated by houses,” said the 42-year-old mother of three who is with Whittington Group Realty.
President of a Toledo organization formed three years ago by African-American agents and other real estate professionals, she has watched with satisfaction as more blacks have entered the field locally and nationally.
Surveys suggest that the number of residential agents who are African-American has doubled locally and nationally in recent years to nearly 5 percent of the total.
They have been part of a wave of people who have entered the profession since the start of the housing boom in 2000. Membership in the National Association of Realtors, the nation’s largest organization of agents and brokers, has grown by nearly 100 percent to 1.3 million over the period. (more…)
