Karen Hatcher walked into the 100-year-old house that would become her own, bypassing stacks of books and newspapers left behind by its previous owner. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Beyond the clutter, the first thing she noticed was the hole enveloping the home\u2019s outdated kitchen, its original hardwood floors rotting away after a century of use. Through it, Hatcher could see directly into the crawl space below the property.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt was going to take six dumpsters just to clear the house and it needed so much beyond that; it was really daunting,\u201d she says. \u201cBut I also really wanted to get into this neighborhood.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So much work would be required\u2014a new HVAC unit, bathrooms replaced, the bottom floor remodeled entirely\u2014that Hatcher would have to secure a construction loan just to get the financing she\u2019d need to turn the house into a home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But the price was good\u2014$169,000, in 2007\u2014and she knew she could refinance out of her initial loan once some of the renovations were completed. After qualifying for a 6.375% interest rate, Hatcher quickly put in an offer for the dilapidated single-family home in Atlanta\u2019s historic Kirkwood neighborhood. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI was like, \u2018I\u2019ll take it,\u2019\u201d Hatcher, at the time working in a corporate role for Ikea, recounts today. \u201cI didn\u2019t want to miss out on the opportunity because I knew the advantages of buying real estate. And I wanted my first purchase to be for growth, for investment.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hatcher and her husband, Michael, married later that year. They lived in the house for the next decade. Here, they graduated from newlyweds to parents of three and the owners of an asset far more valuable than either of them imagined on their wedding day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhen we sold that house, I was able to pay off my grad school loans and put money towards our new home,\u201d she says. \u201cI made a huge, six-figure profit. It was ridiculous. You can only do that with real estate, right? <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThat\u2019s why we have to make sure opportunities like this still exist for people all over the country.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The doors opened by homeownership are clearly not lost on Hatcher, the 2022 President of the Atlanta Realtors\u00ae<\/sup> Association. But she\u2019s also keenly aware of how thin that margin is between the haves and have-nots\u2014the small, sometimes imperceptible differences separating those who can purchase property from those who feel perpetually locked out of the market, unable to save for a down payment or afford the home they want.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Karen joined Michael, a commercial property developer, in the real estate industry right around the time she closed on that first home. The purchase, undeniably, had a dramatic influence on her life as a young adult. Motivated by the experience, Hatcher has become increasingly invested in efforts to boost fair and affordable housing opportunities for the countless Americans unsure if homeownership will be attainable in their lifetime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Last year, Hatcher was appointed to co-chair the Homeownership Working Group for HouseATL<\/a>, a collection of Atlanta-area leaders focused on creating affordable residences for purchase. The group, alongside a number of public and private partners, was the first local pilot program of the nationwide \u201c3 by 30\u201d initiative launched by the Black Homeownership Collaborative<\/a> (BHC).<\/p>\n\n\n\n The National Association of Realtors\u00ae<\/sup>, as part of its broader fair housing efforts<\/a>, was a founding member of the BHC in 2020. Together with the Mortgage Bankers Association, the Urban Institute, and others, NAR helped craft the group\u2019s initial seven-point plan to create three million net new Black homeowners in America by 2030<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In Atlanta, where Freddie Mac estimates more than 205,000 mortgage-ready Black millennials are still renting, the initiative begins with a goal of producing six thousand new Black homeowners in the city before 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The effort is personal for Karen and her partners on the ground, knowing any success or progress made in Georgia can be replicated nationally through the BHC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe\u2019ve got to scale the entire ecosystem; the companies building real estate; the agents selling it; the closing attorneys, mortgage brokers, and consumers,\u201d Karen says. \u201cWe need to be educating all of these folks about the steps needed to promote fair housing, to close gaps, and to actually increase access to property ownership.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The child of Jamaican immigrants, Hatcher grew up in upstate New York, where her dad worked three decades as an engineer for Kodak. Partially driven to find a home that offered more diversity than she encountered as a child living outside of Rochester, Hatcher accepted a scholarship to attend Clark Atlanta University.<\/p>\n\n\n\n After graduation, Hatcher and her college roommate rented an apartment in one of Atlanta\u2019s affordable housing communities. Today, she says saving for her first down payment would have been impossible if not for that decision. It\u2019s that kind of lesson\u2014the lasting experiences and emotions\u2014that Hatcher feels so fortunate to be able to share with her clients, particularly those eyeing homeownership for the first time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Having moved on from the starter house into a dream home less than a mile away, Michael today operates Sovereign Construction & Development while Karen oversees Sovereign Realty & Management. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Their successes have allowed the Hatchers to reinvest considerable energy into the industry and the community that changed their lives so dramatically a decade and a half ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n