Teaching Real Estate to High School Seniors

I am autistic. At some point or another, if you should want further information from me, you will find I have difficulty presenting my ideas in short-format. I am long-winded, I have no filter, and I am extraordinarily passionate. My passion makes many people uncomfortable, but their complacency makes me uncomfortable, so it’s a fair trade. My goal with this dissertation is to place this idea in your capable hands so you may take it further. 

The truth; 99% of people absolutely love this program. The other 1% are real estate agents with high school seniors! They often respond, “I’m not sure I would trust my 18-year-old to sell real estate!” Yet, we would have no problem trusting that same 18-year-old with a rifle and our National Security. We have no trouble telling them to decide what they will do with the rest of their lives and encouraging them to incur $25,000 a year in student loan debt to do it, despite the fact there may not be a job waiting for them when they graduate.

Our teachers have done their job teaching our children how to learn. Society needs to teach our youth what they should learn and how to implement the education in practical settings. What the adult world calls “the real world”. Our youth has spent their entire childhood with a backdrop of war, they are required to enter into adulthood burdened by massive personal and national debt. I’m not too sure it is our youth who struggle living in the “real world”. 

When I was young my mom worked three jobs to stay off of welfare and food stamps. We were in and out of government housing and shelters when my life changed significantly; my mom received a section-8 voucher when I was in 6th grade. I spent the next five years living in one place. It was the longest I had spent anywhere in my entire childhood. It felt like home. After five years my family aged out of the program and I spent the end of my junior and my entire senior year homeless and living with friends with my mom and two younger sisters.  

While kids my age were receiving college acceptance letters I had no idea we even needed to apply for college. The god’s honest truth: I thought colleges drafted or recruited students like athletes. Either way, I knew I was at no risk of being drafted. I barely graduated from High School. I had started believing I was an idiot after being publicly ridiculed for repeating my biology class, after a rough junior year, and I gave up on school. I am one of the many autistic adults who went undiagnosed well into adulthood. My family was concentrating on more important things and education was not a priority. 

My mom was gone 5 or 6 nights a week working at gas stations, group homes, and eventually as a job coach for adults with disabilities. This meant, as a 6th grader, I was home alone a lot with two younger sisters. As secure as we felt, it required my mom was gone overnight constantly, and we grew up fast. In hindsight, I see it as a societal failure in many ways. We live in a country where people like my mom have to choose between working and providing for their children or even getting an opportunity to watch them grow up. 

I begrudge no one. I simply want to be the adult I needed. There is no need for today’s youth to lose themselves in their twenties and thirties. There is no reason for them to be denied an education, or have to earn anything the hard way. No need for them to listen to ugly people, telling them ugly things about themselves. Why would we want anyone to go through what we went through as a rite of passage? I don’t want to see anyone repeating the same needless mistakes and actions when their time can be better utilized blazing a new path forward. I long to see it. 

I know I am not alone. I know my story is not unique. My struggles have given me a big heart and a passion for teaching. This is where I find a lot of the best of our industry, and the world in general, in education. I see coaches, team leads, teachers, affiliates, businesses, and brokers all with a strong desire to help people right now.  I want to bring opportunity to underprivileged people, generations, and areas to help create generational wealth. It starts with real estate education because this is the medium which is best used to create wealth and the medium which has been used to deny it. 

Let’s work together to make sure fewer people die tenants. I want fewer people dying in poverty, having spent a lifetime creating wealth for someone else while working and dying on their land. If “freedom is financial freedom”, as my friend Daron Campbell suggests, how do we create more freedom? I believe it starts through education. It starts in the high schools, but it shouldn’t stop there! Adults need to become educated, or re-skilled, due to the rapid changes in the economy. Finally, we need to learn the history of our industry, if we should ever hope to take steps to heal some of the wrongs it has perpetuated. 

Teaching Real Estate At Your Local High School. Why High School Education? 

Our teachers haven’t failed our students. Society has failed them. Our goal should be to place a license, certificate, or job offer into the hand of every graduating senior who wants one, along with their high school diploma. 

Let’s get to students before they lose themselves in their twenties and thirties. Neither war, wealth, nor debt should be required in order to receive an education. Those of you who found real estate as a second career should know exactly what I am talking about. 

Covid-19’s online approach. 

While all our children and their teachers are familiarizing themselves with Zoom more is becoming acceptable and possible with online education. People are not only willing to receive their educations online but are actively seeking these opportunities out. How can we support this in our industry? 

I am teaching online in the spring of 2021 (Monday through Friday from 4:00 pm to 5:00 pm) with the goal of having Realtors teaching on campuses everywhere in the fall of 2021. If we can prove this beta test successful it will be much more likely private industry will invest in our youth and the government will start seeing investment in various licensing programs for High School seniors as a valuable resource.

With every death transition, there is new life. New life is being breathed into education whether we like it, or not. Let’s help steer the direction of the ship. 

The economic outlook is good. 

As many industries are being put out of business or being put on the non-essential list, real estate continues to boom. The economic outlook for this industry remains positive in the immediate future in the midst of this Third Great Migration, and in the decades to come in The Post Boomer Boom. 

Economists project we will see the largest transfer of wealth in American History with over $30 trillion dollars in the United States, and $100 trillion worldwide, scheduled to change hands over the course of the next three decades. Much of it through real estate. 

Why real estate? 

Every war throughout history has been fought over real estate. Government has shown us the necessity to buy it, rent it, or take it. No one can print more of it. The importance of owning real estate cannot be stressed enough. Every person should own a home. Now, what do we need to accomplish to get there? For one, create more good-hearted real estate agents who believe the same. 

If this is the medium where the most wrong has been done, legally, let it be the medium where the most right can be accomplished. 8 of the 10 of the wealthiest zip codes in America are in California concentrated around the Los Angeles and Bay Areas, in neighborhoods where black people were historically not allowed to own real estate. Through practices like redlining, racial housing covenants, HOAs, and sundown towns black people were denied from owning real estate in many neighborhoods. In addition, they were denied funding to build homes by the FHA, VA, and Federal Government. This action has repercussions that are felt in these communities today.

According to the National Association of Realtors “The average homeowner in a redlined neighborhood has earned 89 percent less equity, or $524,000 less, than their counterparts in a greenlined neighborhood since 1980. Broken down further, we see that the median home value in 2019 for a “hazardous” area stood at $587,000, compared to $1,111,000 in a green community with a “best” rating.” Banks have been caught using Redlining Maps as recently as 2015. 

For the first 30 years of the Fair Housing Administration, 98% of FHA borrowers were white. As WWII came to a close in the 1940s there was a booming of immigration to Los Angeles to fill factory jobs. In 1944 the VA Home Loan was created to give GIs the opportunity to buy a home. However, for various reasons, black soldiers were often denied the right to use their VA Loan. In 1947, three years after the program had been started, there were 3,200 VA Loans given out to white soldiers, and only 2 given out to black soldiers. This has real-world repercussions and we need to take actionable steps towards righting the wrongs of the past. 

Building a broker-neutral platform.

I believe we will build it better as a collaborative effort. We want each Agent in Training to find their right fit. Week 12 of our program requires each Agent in Training interview with at least three different brokerages and/or teams. 

Much of our youth do not realize this career is an option for them. This will take all of us working together if we should ever hope to accomplish this task with any expediency. This is one of the few industries around today a person can enter into, and make a good living, which does not require a college education. And it was closed off to black real estate professionals, which is why black people started referring to themselves as “Realtists” and NAREB was founded in Tampa, Florida in 1947. 

“It wasn’t until 1961 that NAR finally overturned the policies that prevented black real estate professionals from joining their local boards of REALTORS®.” (For more information on this and NAR’s efforts visit www.FairHousing.realtor or  www.nar.realtor/fair-housing) The industry worked together against black people, it is time to work together to help black people, and by proxy help everyone. 

I am on a mission to combat poverty. No child should be conscious of their parent’s income when their stomach growls. No child should be constantly displaced because of a system that does not benefit them and has forgotten them. The children are the constantly forgotten shadow caste of America. If I land in predominantly black and brown communities to start this venture this means these are the communities where society has been willing to tolerate extreme poverty. 

NAR President Vince Malta recently issued a statement, which caused quite the outrage in the LCA community, and is the kind of statement which brings clarity and helps heal our industry simply by acknowledging some of the pain and destruction it has caused. As real estate agents, we need to take fair housing seriously. Unfortunately, enough of our predecessors did not, which is why we have landed here. 

Vince Malta chose to put himself in the front of confusion and affirm life, integrity, and justice in our industry. He stands in the position of putting us in the professional position to help heal this country with our greater professional contributions to it. We must move forward with our eyes open and aware of our history.   

“It’s not enough to just stop discriminatory behavior. It’s going to take positive action to remedy decades’ worth of inequality and we must continue to stand shoulder to shoulder with millions of Americans in affirming that Black lives matter.” 

-Vince Malta (President of NAR)

Going Across the redline. 

People often respond “oh, you want to help people sell real estate in their own neighborhoods?” No, I want to help people sell real estate in your neighborhood! 

I want to help people access a portion of the wealth that has been historically denied to them. We can pursue this avenue with an awareness campaign; by directly attacking the redline we can help offset some of the devastation caused by the introduction of it. I’m working with several of our LCA Members to hold a statewide open house demonstration, partnered with a door-knocking campaign, in Green Neighborhoods to increase awareness and the likelihood of Realtors getting paid large commissions. 

Everything is church. Everything is family. How can I be happy if my brother is in pain? 

Zero credit elective or after school program. 

Going on campus will require class is taught in one of two ways: 

• During school hours as a “zero credit elective”.

OR

• As an after school program like “Real Estate Club”. 

Building a Coalition of Educators.

We are starting with real estate but there is no end to the careers we can work within our high schools to prepare our students for successful futures; Real Estate, Lending, Cosmetologist License, Barber’s License, Licensed Electrician, Paramedic License or EMT, Dental Assistants, Cardiovascular Technologists, Massage Therapists, Occupational Therapists, or Medical Assistants, or any other certificate program which takes under one year of schooling.

 The best way to increase access to affordable healthcare is to create more healthcare workers, and then not burden them with debt. Society will benefit from having an educated populace. Higher education should not be denied to anyone. 

Going to city councils, school districts, parents, student organizations, and newly elected officials. 

The hardest people to approach with a revolutionary idea is other real estate agents. I have been going directly to influencers by approaching City Council Representatives, School Districts, Keller Williams Team Leads, NAREB Presidents or Representatives, Teachers, student organizations, and newly elected officials. Once I have already started working with a local high school, or city council, it will be much easier to bring the local Realtor on board with the program.

Real estate agents want to see everything done before they will do it. 

Developing a semester program for your state. 

If you live in California or want to see my 15-week curriculum please visit my website (www.EducateEmpowerExplore.com). The curriculum is posted. It will change as we build out our affiliate base and guest instructors program. I hope to have some affiliate announcements on November 11th for our information session. 

I stretched the state-required program into a high school semester, added supplemental courses based on what everyone in LCA wished they knew as a new agent, added business and financial planning, an introduction to real estate coaching, how to lead generate, dialing systems, and scripts, usage of CRMs, IDXs, and the MLS, plus weekly guided Socratic discussions designed to help students think objectively about their careers. 

Partnering with a real estate school, or working with a publishing company to start your own.

You can partner with a school that has everything in place already, you could white label curriculum provided by a publishing company, or you could re-create the wheel, and all the systems needed to make the wheel effective, and start your own school.

We are teaching free supplemental real estate education, which means our students will still need to sign up with First Tuesday if they want to work towards their real estate licenses. First Tuesday has partnered with brokers in California, including eXp Realty, to offer a 30% off discount code for real estate licensing courses called CALPaces. This brings the minimum cost to $102.55. None of this money comes to Our Community. This is significant to note for our Scholarship Program, which I will explain later. 

For more information on First Tuesday visit www.CALPaces.com or call 951.781.7300.

There are also several publishing companies which will white-label your real estate school if you should want to start your own. First Tuesday offers Realtors the opportunity to do this with their own publishing company called Realty Publications, INC. This would give you the chance to name your school whatever you want to name it and they will customize their state-approved literature to your branding. It also puts you in the driver’s seat. In order to go this route, you will need to become a Pre-Licensee Instructor.

Finally, you can submit your own curriculum to your state board. This was the original route which I was considering to reduce costs further for my students but decided it would not be possible to launch in January. Time is of the essence. 

Scholarship Program & How to donate

This has been one of the most significant developments for me! The bottom line; there are people who can become excellent Realtors who don’t have access to an expendable hundred bucks. For these people who can’t afford to start licensing courses, I want to eliminate the financial barrier of entry. 

I also don’t want to pay $102.55 for everyone who wants to touch their toes to the water. We decided to require students to complete the first three weeks of the program and submit a short essay to our Scholarship Director, Rosie Rodriguez. We will not turn anyone away, but not all barriers to entry should be financial! We want people who want to be there. 

I have talked to several successful Realtors, as well as affiliates, which have said they would be willing to pay for students to take their real estate courses. For these people, they will get a tax write off! Donors would contact CALPaces directly, give the Discount Code (6106), and tell them how many programs you would like to sponsor at $102.55 each. They will hold the funds in place for students who need it when the program starts and the donor will get an education tax write-off. 

Earn as you learn. 

We want to decrease the period between applying for real estate courses and the first paycheck. Very few people have the luxury of waiting for a paycheck. Unemployment and underemployment are serious problems. Recessions and Depressions tend to reset the wealth of lower-income earners. Most of the jobs being hit the hardest are service-related careers, which translate beautifully to working in real estate. 

Commission is not the main focus of the student program, and I am not sure it would even work in another state. I didn’t realize this was an option until recently. The adult program, which starts a week after the student program, will run from 9:00 – 10:00 Monday through Friday at the beginning of the workday and commission is very much the focus. Students need to understand real estate is a commission-based job. The industry needs to understand some people need to get paid quickly. 

I remember, even after getting licensed, the insane requirements my brokerage wanted me to complete before they wanted me to start practicing real estate. They had an 8-week program, once a week, which they wanted me to complete before even holding an open house. I asked if it was a preference or a requirement. They told me “preference” and I opened 7 escrows the next month. I made more than I did the year prior getting shot at. 

There are a lot of opportunities to get paid while working in real estate. Agents in Training can legally be paid commission working as a “Finder” while pursuing their real estate licenses in California. There are certain restrictions, of course, but they are easily followed. For example, a Finder cannot talk about price, what kind of house a person wants, or any details about their home search. 

Their primary occupation is finding people who need to buy and sell real estate. Once a buyer or seller is identified, the Finder’s Fee Agreement (RPI Form 115) is filled out and a local agent is identified who can hopefully close the transaction. At closing the student receives a 25% commission. 

This is significant because it gets them in the financial game more quickly, it builds out a street team who can be paid commission, and, of course, it generates revenue for the brokerage willing to train the students. A 25% commission is nothing to shrug your shoulders at, especially in the average Green Neighborhood in the Bay Area where the average sales price in a “desirable neighborhood”, is $1,111,000. 

Let’s do the math, shall we?

$1,111,000 (sale price) 

X .025 = $27,775 (average total commission)

$27,775 x .80 = $22,220 (80% split)

$22,220 x .25 = $5,555 (25% to Finder)

$5,555 (average Green Zone Commission)

Working with Affiliates to create empowerment.  

As an ENTP I’m a bit of a mad scientist. I’m very excited about working to create the perfect systems alongside affiliates throughout the state of California for this first initial 15-week beta test! If these affiliates can create value for students during this period, free of charge, they will be happy to pay for it when they get licensed and are capable. In addition, currently licensed Realtors will pay for the systems when they realize they are easy enough to manage for the Agents in Training! 

If we were to send a student to the Berkley School of Music for composition we would expect them to have a basic understanding of every instrument. I want students to understand all of the instruments which will be crucial to their successes in real estate; CRMs, IDXs, ChatBots, A.I., dialing, open houses, coaching, farming, and anything else they might need to be introduced to in order to run a successful business out the gate. 

In my mind, we could build the most exciting draft pool of talent real estate has ever seen. This draft class could change the industry. 2021 could be a year everyone looks back at fondly when our entire industry leveled up. 

One of the biggest issues many affiliates suffer from is getting their customers to understand and properly utilize their technology or systems. There is a saying “it’s hard to teach an old dog new tricks”. It’s hard to get most agents, who have been in this industry for any length of time, to try anything new. You could have the greatest piece of technology for the real estate world, you still need to prove it works. You need to get it in front of people. You are invited to participate with Our Community in this initial beta test!  

I am not asking for an indefinite commitment. I am asking for whatever you are comfortable providing. Our program runs for 15 weeks. Can you provide a trial for 12 weeks? What about for six weeks? Could you become a Guest Instructor? 

This will not just be a great opportunity to make significant money if your product works, but it will be a great opportunity to receive some publicity for getting involved. 

Upset the setup. Flip the script. Game the game. 

The concept is simple; create generational wealth by utilizing the platform which was used as the major force to deny it. If we do not educate we incarcerate. It is time to educate widely and wildly.  It is time to completely shatter the education to prison pipeline by introducing opportunities into “Red Zones”, or low opportunity areas, which then will have the opportunity to outgrow you, and your influence. 

This should not be the “David Serpa Show”. If it becomes this, at any point, I have failed miserably. I am making it clear to everyone you can start your own program without me! You don’t need my permission. I am outlining exactly how to do it. It has to become bigger than me or it will never get to where it needs to be. 

As a Machinegunner my job was to open fire so others could move freely. The saying was “movement without suppression is suicide.” Since returning home I have realized there are other, non-violent ways, to open fire. This is an open exchange of ideas that starts with being willing to loose some intellectual arrows. I am opening fire so others can move. I am ready to receive the brunt of the attacks if it moves the needle forward. I am a radical. This never changed. My body is just meat, this war is spiritual. 

What is the mission? Is the mission critical? Then what are you willing to do to accomplish it? Peace is not the absence of war, it is sometimes the threat of it which keeps nations at peace. If it is nothing short of assured mutual destruction will stop violence, then sometimes you need to have your finger over a red button during peace talks. Who is standing for the youth? Who is standing for the underprivileged? I took an oath to fight all enemies foreign and domestic, and I find the greater threat here. 

No one wants peace more than those who have seen war. Far too many Americans have experienced war on American soil. Just getting through the day, the week, and making it to the end of the month can feel like fighting battle after battle. America is losing heart. I cannot continue to act like children growing up violently is okay with me. So, where do we start? By breaking the systems which perpetuate the most needless violence. 

If people need food, give them bread. If people need education, teach what you know. If an opportunity has been denied, find ways to provide it. Whoever decided we need the government’s permission to get involved in providing solutions? Whoever decided violence was the way to accomplish revolution? It is with peace, love in numbers, education, opportunity, and cooperation that the revolution will be won and lasting change will be seen. 

The powers that be want a race war, because they cannot handle a class war. 

The kids bring the parents (The Adult program) 

Malcolm-X was taught by Elijah Muhammed while recruiting for the Nation of Islam, to focus on the youth and the adults will follow. Within an hour, or so, of announcing the student program on my personal Facebook page I had people inquiring about an adult program or asking if they could just take the class along with the high school seniors. 

My primary focus is the student program, though the adult program will likely be a higher revenue-generating activity because no one is investing in High School students except the Federal Government through College and Military Recruiting. Society does not maintain high hopes for the rapid success rate of our graduating seniors. Why? 

An 18-year-old joined our eXp organization last year and found success quickly because she was willing to work. Korra was willing to do what other agents had convinced themselves would not work, without even making an attempt. Agents would be shocked, after meeting her, to hear about her impressive success at such a young age. The only person who was not surprised was Korra. She could not care less about the money. This is what makes the next generation so unique. They see real estate as a means to an end, not an identity. Whereas much of the generations before them are obsessed with millionaire status and the cars they drive, Generation-Z is a more “woke” generation. 

The generations before Generation-Z talk about leveling up a peer group. This thought is detestable to much of the younger generation who tend to see people as inherently valuable. They are less interested in partying on a yacht and are more interested in bringing up the block. The prickly egoic, image-obsessed, limelight-driven, quintessential real estate agent will always have their place in the shade but the sun is rising on a new era of real estate and it is going to get harder and harder to exist in the shade. 

Talking to republicans & democrats, the 4th Industrial Revolution, and career centers. 

In this divided country you will have different conversations with Democrats and Republicans about education. The goal is to get both groups on the same page because it will require everyone working together to bring us up to the challenges of the fourth industrial revolution. If we do not adapt, it will economically devastate this country, and tomorrow’s youth, by forcing most people directly into working-class situations by denying them owning class opportunities. 

The Fourth Industrial Revolution officially launched in 2012.  It is a technological revolution that will automate away a lot of jobs by creating tremendous efficiencies.. The Fourth Industrial Revolution is based on the following principles; interconnection, information transparency, technical assistance, and decentralized decisions. 

• Interconnection: the ability of machines and people to connect and communicate with one another.
• Information transparency: the ability to gather mass data and identify key areas of improvement.
• Technical assistance: the ability of machines to complete redundant, difficult, or dangerous tasks coupled with increasing abilities in machine learning’s decision making and complex problem-solving skills.
• Decentralized decisions: the increasing ability for decision making and autonomous performance by cyber-physical systems powered by artificial intelligence. 

The Fourth Industrial Revolution will give birth to what people throughout the world are calling Work 4.0. We need to prepare our children for the world of tomorrow and stop preparing them for a world which no longer exists. It serves no one. 

We need to make changes to education if we are to save our localities. We have not made major changes to our education system since the third industrial revolution in the 1950s when America was focused on turning out factory workers. 

Where is the tech in our schools? Why is it being relegated to private schools, charter schools, and schools where parents may more in taxes? We are raising our future in every, single child, it is time society begins to act like it. We have to do better. Until education is no longer political but afforded to all, we will have to play the political game to force the hands of the powers that be by working together.

Republicans: With Republicans, I tend to focus on the cost of college education, the lack of a promise of employment, and the re-introduction of trade programs back into schools. This provides opportunities for young people to start careers, be introduced to entrepreneurship, and potentially become job creators and, of course, taxpayers. 

Democrats: With Democrats, I remind them teachers have not failed our students, they have taught them to learn. Society needs to teach them what to learn. I want to increase attendance in high schools, not by prosecuting truancy, but by incentivizing attendance. I want an opportunity to teach anyone who might not have a plan after their senior year.

High Schools should not just have a counselor on campus but an entire career center. Around 40% of High School students are not headed off to college. What are we doing for them? It cannot be the entire plan of our High Schools to send every student to college. Ultimately only around 50% of students who go onto college graduate. 

Outrecruiting colleges and military. 

Look, I served in the United States Marine Corps, I am not talking poorly about your local Marine Corps recruiter, I just want to out-recruit them. 

I want to stand in a Real Estate Club booth, next to a Military Recruiter, and tell young people they don’t have to do pull-ups and they will probably make a lot more money working in real estate. I want to look at the ribbons on the recruiter’s chest and encourage them not to sell anything they haven’t bought. It would be in good nature with my military brethren. After all, I want to recruit them out of the military and into real estate for the adult program. I know Marines who have worked recruiting duty, I know they aren’t happy, I know what kind of hours they are working, and how much more they could make in real estate. I want to get them on board before they sign their re-enlistment papers. 

If not, place me next to your State Colleges and Universities and I will ask students what they are going to be studying, and encourage them to get their real estate license just in case they decide they don’t want to be burdened with six-figures in student loan debt from the Federal Government without a promise of employment. Then I will ask them when I get to meet their parents. 

It may sound like a game to me, but it really isn’t. Why should anyone be burdened with debt for an education? Why should anyone have to go into the military for a “free” education? I carried a young man posthumously who we called “doc” and was studying to be called “Doctor”. He was engaged, his fiancé has since married. There is a real-world cost to the wars we spend far too much time romanticizing.

High School athletes are in reckless pursuit of a college scholarship so they can change their stars with a college education, if not a professional sports contract. These athletes make universities millions and millions of dollars. What happens to all of the athletes who weren’t even given a 2020/2021 senior season to prove themselves? These students who prepared entire lifetimes? I am afraid of where they will end up because of the fact they have not been introduced to viable alternatives to professional athletics. 

There is a “hopelessness pandemic” sweeping America. If we do not give people something better to hope for, then we create hopelessness. Hopelessness wreaks havoc on any society because the human spirit is not designed to be without hope. In 2015, 26% of parents hoped their child would become a pro-athlete. This is catastrophic thinking and the repercussions from the blowout are of equal proportion. Most parents polled in various studies expected their children to get a degree, while in a separate poll most parents expect less for their children than they were able to obtain for themselves. Life expectancy is actually going down for white people in America. Is it really possible for us to not see the interconnectedness of systemic societal failure? 

Every child should not need to be sent off to college, burdened with debt, be an incredible athlete, a valedictorian, or be willing to fight a foreign war to receive a free and valuable education. Will you help make this possible? 

What’s in it for you? 

There is a reason I waited this long to discuss any selfish motivation for wanting to help the youth. I also decided not to release an abridged version of this article for the very same reason; we have gotten far too used to craving taste without substance. This sort of thinking is harmful if you are going to involve yourself in high school education. There is a lot of money to be made by working alongside High Schools, and if you are the wrong kind of person I would rather you not get involved. I want to weed out the greed. Like any true investment, it may take some time to see any form of legitimate ROI. 

Where some people will see a lead source others will see a win-win-win opportunity if professionals are willing to invest their time and energy regardless of the paycheck. We spend far too much time trying to steal talent instead of finding and fostering it. What if you could help foster the next round of professionals to come around and replace you? This is not empty recruiting, it is creating real ownership in real business. 

Opportunities to Recruit: The most obvious reason to get involved with this program is the same reason the military is in the high schools; to recruit talent. I want to help people who don’t like to recruit, recruit. It is easier to do this by way of leading with value. We have become obsessed with stealing talent and spend very little time actually finding, fostering, and cultivating it. This requires caring about people overproduction. 

Growth in Personal Business: By volunteering, or investing, your time into your local high school you can broaden your sphere of influence to include a very powerful group of people; teachers and students. In tomorrow’s world, it isn’t enough to buy the banner at the local high school, people want to actually see you in the community. Show up regularly on campus, dress professionally, behave professionally, and you will be a shining example of what a Realtor should be in the community. People will expect you to do well financially. They will help. No one will begrudge you your success.

Increased Referrals: The amount of access you have to people while talking daily about buying and selling real estate will increase the number of people who want to buy and sell real estate with you. If you are not practicing real estate, who will suddenly call you and pay you to practice? This sets you up, and grants you authority, as the local real estate expert. People would be crazy not to call you when it comes time to buy and sell real estate anywhere. This would be a great lead generation system for any broker, or team lead, to simply teach at the local high school and refer the business out and head back to the office or home for the day. 

Want to learn more? 

The Student Information Session on 11/11 at 11:00 am: Our Community will be going live on our Facebook page via Zoom to deliver a presentation on our student program, our work with high schools, and to introduce you to our team throughout the state of California. The meeting will be permanently hosted on our Facebook page. 

The Adult Information Session on 11/18 at 9:00 am: Our Community will be going live on our Facebook page via Zoom to deliver a presentation on our adult program, our work with outreach programs, and to introduce you to our team throughout the state of California. The meeting will be permanently hosted on our Facebook page. 

Our Website: www.EducateEmpowerExplore.com

Our Facebook Page: www.facebook.com/EducateEmpowerExploreCalifornia

Contact Me Directly: (951)691-7798 

Please text first. I am one of those weird Realtors who do not pick up their phones. I am autistic. I keep a schedule. If your call is not on the schedule, I don’t take it. Text me and we will schedule a call. Then, show up for it. I put too much energy into these meetings for the majority of realtors to no call/no show for an appointment they asked me to schedule. I rarely ask for meetings with anyone. I don’t want to beg people to get involved in something so many are naturally passionate about. 

My reasoning for being unreasonable; As amazon grows.

As real estate agents, we often speculate on how to create more homeownership in any one demographic. I often hear the question proposed at nearly every real estate conference I attend. VAREP; how do we get more veterans to buy homes? NAHREP; how do we get more Hispanics to buy homes? NAREB; How do we get more black people to buy homes? The best way to create more black homeownership is to create more black wealth. What tool has been utilized to create more wealth than any other medium in the world? Real estate. 

The ramifications of government-enforced poverty is very real and can easily be seen from driving one community to the next. It affects every level of life and can especially be felt by our youth in our schools. Our teachers, despite their best efforts, cannot prepare students for today’s economy and workforce without help to reform the system. Teachers have taught students how to learn. Now society needs to teach them what to learn. 

Opportunities for career growth, just like home buying, have gone down significantly for young people since Generation-X graduated from High School in the ’80s and ’90s. Even entry-level careers are now highly competitive as the proletariat rapidly expands. It seems as if the entire lower and underprivileged classes are being squeezed into lower-paying temp-work, side hustles, and gig-jobs. The state of California has made the situation even worse by making it nearly impossible for the #1 employer in the state, the small business owner, to keep people employed by forcing business closures. 

Sacramento has lost 33% of their small businesses, Oakland has lost 32%, San Jose 35%, Bakersfield 31%, and San Diego 28%. Even worse; 54% of the small businesses have been permanently destroyed in San Francisco. 60% of the restaurants forced to close temporarily are now permanently closed. This accounts for 370 restaurants in San Francisco alone. A lot of people are going to be looking for a new career but, unfortunately, a lot of careers are disappearing forever as we continue to streamline and automate the industry.

I live in the Inland Empire. My area houses the largest concentration of warehouses anywhere in the world. More and more of my community has started working for Amazon. This would be a non-issue if Amazon was a great company to work for but 15-20% of these workers are collecting government assistance because, despite working for Amazon, they are being paid below poverty wages. TIME Magazine reported from January 1st through May 1st of this year Bezos saw his wealth increase by $275 million dollars every day. For a total increase in wealth of $33 billion dollars in a four-month period. 

During Covid-19, while many are struggling to provide childcare for their children, Bezos has increased his wealth by over $100 billion dollars. Now, the same man reaching for Mars because he sees no other way to spend his wealth wants to start educating our youngest children. Jeff Bezos is considering opening private Kindergartens across America. This isn’t an accident. He sees the opportunity in the breakdown of the system. We must ask ourselves; is this where we want the education of our children headed? It seems like a very dangerous time for the American education system if we do nothing at all. 

Amazon threatens to do to our local grocery stores what they did to our local book stores. The ramifications will affect our health, well-being, and economic opportunities. Do you think they will stop there? What’s next, our schools? Our real estate industry? Lending? During Covid-19, as many single parents were left without childcare during a pandemic, and people were lining up at food pantries for the first time, the only grocer delivering groceries who accepted EBT or WIC online was Amazon Fresh. The same Jeff Bezos is considering buying CNN, one of the largest media companies in the world, and the man who already owns the Washington Post. 

Do we think Amazon will stop at grocery stores with how much money there is to be made in real estate? I am worried we will all be working at Wal-Mart Homes or Amazon Real Estate Company while getting paid $15 an hour to compete, like Uber Drivers, to show homes at a moment’s notice. Unfortunately, this is exactly what will happen if we cannot improve the overall value proposition and quality expected from our industry. 

Real estate agents are right up with lawyers, used car salesmen, and Members of Congress in the race for the most hated professionals in America. In fact, MoneyWise conducted a survey on The Most Hated Professionals in America based on honesty and ethics, and real estate agents came in at #9, right in front of lenders at #10, and well behind Members of Congress at #1. It is no wonder why our industry is detested, some of us were getting absolutely filthy rich while people were losing their homes. I was actually told by a real estate coach at the beginning of my career to “pray for a down market”. 

We need young, fresh blood, and we need people, of any age, willing to treat this job as a full-time professional career. The more people treating this career as a side hustle will make it into a side hustle for all of us. We need to bring real estate out of the wineries and off of the golf courses and onto main street and into the high schools. There is a reason the military and colleges recruit out of the high schools, there is tremendous value in our youth. They are our future. Period. 

The problem for Generation-Z is there are very few entry-level jobs available to them and none which lead to careers. Lower paying “unskilled labor positions” are often filled with young parents working multiple jobs to feed their children, adults who cannot start over after losing other jobs, and/or immigrants. This has created class division instead of class unity. God help the powers that be if they ever have to deal with a united lower class. Foodservice, retail, and many customer service jobs are disappearing before our eyes. Even if an 18-year-old has worked hard enough, and is fortunate enough, to get good grades and maybe get into a good school, there is no guarantee a job will be there waiting for them when they graduate and the student loans become due from Uncle Sam. 

This has many parents pointing to military service as an opportunity to get out into the world, gather some work experience, and get a college education paid covered. Unfortunately, we are waging war on 9 fronts and have been in Afghanistan, in the war I  fought 8 years ago, for 19 years with no end in sight. Military veterans are struggling with unemployment, depression, and suicide. Very few veterans are able to properly utilize their Post 9/11 GI Bill when it comes time to put it to good use. Truth be told; I don’t think I would be alone in the veteran community with being uncomfortable seeing my children going off to fight this, or any other, war. Why have we not evolved past this Neanderthalic way of thinking? 

We are still only recently discussing what Dr. Martin Luther King Jr presented in 1968 with his Poor People’s Campaign before being assassinated later that same year. People don’t want to struggle to get by with two to three jobs, while someone else raises their children! People don’t want free K-12 education only to be burdened by the Federal Government with $100,000 of student loan debt for the last four years. The government controls student loan debt while deciding who gets access to it. This is why we so desperately need to flip the script. Let’s provide the real-world education our children so desperately need by any means necessary. 

A friend of mine who works for the San Diego Unified School District posted recently that 70% of his students had not logged in for their initial class in their senior year. Our young men and women were already looking at high school like it was useless before Covid-19. This is unfortunate. Now, it is nearly impossible to reach some of these students. Education in this country is set up for the privileged and it has never been more obvious than it is now in the wake of Covid-19. Who has time to properly educate their children when they are too busy working to feed and house them? In what many economists are calling a trait of a Post-Capitalist Society, we have come to depend on the government for childcare, in the form of schooling, so we can work for private corporations, who are heavily government subsidized. When government provided childcare went away, the government further mandated poverty.

Covid-19 will be a shame if we do not accept the gifts which come along with death. There is a rebirth that comes with death, and often a better form of life when we are willing to accept the lessons, learn from them, and adapt. As Americans, we are uniquely terrified of death. We do not see new life in transformation and so we mourn loss while forgetting to celebrate the irrevocable gifts which came from life. There were already problems in America, and throughout the world, this disease simply exposed more disease. If we return to normal, we learned nothing. Normal was far too unacceptable for far too many people. Wouldn’t you agree? 

Instead of leaving you with any more of my long-winded diatribe, I will you with the words of a man we often point to in excerpt, but take very little from in substance. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was arrested 29 times before he was assassinated.  11 months before his death he said the following in a recorded video interview which you can find on YouTube;  

“We do face many more difficulties as a result of the war. It’s much more difficult to really arouse a conscience during a time of war. I noticed the other day, some weeks ago, some negro was shot down in Chicago and it was a clear case of police brutality. That was page 30 of the paper but on page 1 at the top was ‘780 Viet Cong Killed’. There is something about a war like this that makes people insensitive. It dulls a conscience. It strengthens the forces of reaction and it brings into being bitterness, and hatred, and violence, and it strengthened the Military-Industrial Complex of our country. 

It’s made our job much more difficult because, I think, we can go along with some programs, if we didn’t have this war on our hands, that would cause people to adjust to new developments just as they did in the south. They said ‘they’d never ride the bus with us, blood would flow in the streets, they wouldn’t go to school’ and all of these things but when people came to see they had to do it because the law insisted, they finally adjusted. 

I think white people all over this country will adjust once the nation makes it clear that in schools, in housing, we’ve got to learn to live together as brothers.”