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Achieving the American dream of homeownership is not a straightforward path for everyone.
Katie Kossev of Side shared a bit of personal history with attendees on the Inman Connect Las Vegas stage on Thursday during a session entitled, “Advocating for the American Dream of Homeownership”: Kossev’s husband, Veso Kossev, is a Bulgarian immigrant who learned about real estate in 1998 when helping his immigrant parents purchase a home. The experience later inspired him to become a Realtor, and today, he is owner and broker of The Kossev Group.
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At the beginning of the session, Kossev showed a video created by the Nevada Association of Realtors, highlighting the significance of homeownership as part of the American Dream.
Katie Kossev | Side
“If [my husband] and his family were to come here in 2024, 2025, I just don’t think that would be as feasible,” Kossev said.
Tiffany Banks of the Nevada Association of Realtors and Heather Ozur of California Association of Realtors joined Kossev on stage to discuss how Realtors can tap into their associations to help new homebuyers achieve that American dream, no matter how unattainable it may seem.
“In 2020, we created our pathways to homeownership grant,” Ozur said. “We provide a $10,000 closing cost grant to people who qualify and that’s when they get to work with a California Realtor and it helps them close that gap to closing.”
California is a state with some of the most expensive housing costs in the country, which is why such measures are so important “so they can get on that path of generational wealth,” Ozur said.
Heather Ozur | California Association of Realtors
Aside from just the cost of a downpayment, there are other challenges to homeownership, Kossev added, including understanding and paying for property taxes and homeowners insurance.
Banks said that’s why educating the consumer is so important and rewarding when it’s possible to show them the pathway to homeownership.
“In Nevada, property taxes are very convoluted and very confusing,” she said, which is why she works to connect consumers with a trusted real estate advisor.
Amidst California’s high cost of living, Ozur said that one thing the state has done well to curb housing costs is initiate Proposition 13, which limits a property owner’s tax to 1 percent of the property’s assessed value. Unfortunately, the state is also grappling with home insurance coverage challenges as climate events like wildfires continue to increase in frequency and severity.
“We have the Park Fire going on, one of the largest wildfires in history … And that is one of the reasons we’ve had insurance companies back out of California.”
Because of insurance coverage challenges, Ozur and CAR coach consumers to make sure one of their first calls when they’re interested in buying a home is to their insurance broker to be certain that they can get coverage on the property.
Tiffany Banks | Nevada Association of Realtors
That coaching mentality regarding insurance coverage is something that Kossev urged associations to also promote to their members.
Overall, Banks said, it’s important that homeowners and consumers understand what associations and Realtors do, so that they can tap into their resources.
Ozur added, “And what Realtors do as a whole, as an entire community, is advocate.
“It’s our job to talk about the importance of homeownership.”
Transparency about what Realtors do and the changes that are coming down the pike with the commission lawsuit settlements is also extremely important, Banks added.
“That’s been a buzzword lately,” she said.
Kossev wondered if the two association leaders thought the settlement changes would make homeownership less easily attainable for some consumers.
“I think it’s fantastic,” Ozur said. “I think it opens up conversation” for agents to really break down, step-by-step, what they do.
Kossev then turned the conversation to the younger generations that might feel like homeownership is an impossibility.
“I have a 17-year-old daughter,” Kossev said. “When she’s on TikTok and everything else, there’s such an influx of content telling her she’ll never be a homeowner.”
“It’s really upsetting,” she added.
Banks said that one of her favorite conversations to have is with young people who feel like homeownership will always be out of reach, because she loves seeing their surprise at learning that it’s attainable. She also stressed how important face-to-face, authentic connection with those younger generations is for Realtors because of the impact it can have.
“I think the more we can do to encourage that, the better,” Banks said.
The biggest piece of advice Ozur could give Realtors is to keep up with their local association to ensure they know about homeownership assistance that they can offer their clients.
“This is part of your job as a Realtor,” she said.
Correction: This story was updated after publishing to reflect that Veso Kossev is sole broker/owner of The Kossev Group, which is not affiliated with Side. Kossev did not appear in the video at the beginning of the Inman Connect Las Vegas session “Advocating for the American Dream of Homeownership,” as was previously stated.
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