Real estate reckoning: Removing ‘master’ from listings is just one step in the fight for racial equity. Here’s what comes next.

Courtney Jones, a Chicago real estate agent and developer, has the perfect analogy for racial inequity in modern-day real estate: Picture a game of Monopoly, and then imagine that your opponent got to circle the board 400 times before you were allowed to play.

“How much would that affect your ability to be successful at the game?” he said.

Black people have been treated inequitably when it comes to the American dream of homeownership, as ugly practices like redlining, segregation and, to this day, inequity in lending prevent them from having the same opportunities as their white counterparts.

As the country’s attention has turned to systemic racism following George Floyd’s death and nationwide protests calling for action, the movement is sparking conversations in the Chicago-area real estate industry about the need for change.

“It’s just time to assist the rest of mainstream white America to really become conscious of what its brethren have been dealing with,” Jones said. “Just because the shackles aren’t physically on people’s wrists and neck doesn’t mean it’s really a level playing field in the socioeconomic space.”

There are encouraging signs of progress in the real estate sector: This year, the Chicago Association of Realtors elected the first Black female president in its 137-year history, while Jones is the city’s first Black “receiver” of a downtown high-rise as part of a city program in which developers are hand-picked to rehabilitate buildings seized by the government over, for instance, building code violations.

Courtney Jones, president of the Dearborn Realtists Board, an organization focused on eradicating racist practices from Chicago real estate, stands outside one of his listings, the Pittsfield Building at 55 E. Washington St. on July 6, 2020, in Chicago. (Erin Hooley / Chicago Tribune)But equality seems a long way away. Change is needed in lending practices, equitable building across neighborhoods and investment in communities where the effects of redlining and other discriminatory practices linger, Black industry leaders say.

But, they add, they cannot shoulder the burden alone.

“You cannot sit on the sidelines,” said Nykea Pippion McGriff, president-elect of the Chicago Association of Realtors.

?“You have to be a player to change the game.”

The most recent debate centers on removing the term “master” from listings when describing a home’s largest, primary bedroom or suite because of the word’s association with slavery. Houston Realtors was among the first to make the move in late June, and the issue has been raised in Louisville, Kentucky, Washington, D.C., and here in Chicago. Local brokerage @properties told its employees at the end of June that it would phase it out of company materials.

“It seemed like a very obvious, easy thing to do,” said @properties co-founder Thad Wong. “I don’t think changing this word is going to change systemic racism in our society. But if it’s a word that is negative for any group, I don’t know why we wouldn’t put effort into changing it.”

At the state level, Illinois Realtors follows U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development guidance, “which says the term is not discriminatory,” said Illinois Realtors spokesman Anthony Hebron.

The Chicago Association of Realtors said it “support(s) inclusive language” and its board members are discussing the issue. Same goes for the Midwest Real Estate Data (MRED), the Lisle-based multiple listing service that serves much of the Chicago area, a spokesman said.

Dearborn Realtists, the country’s oldest African American real estate trade association formed in 1941 in Chicago, is set to discuss the topic at its next board meeting, said Jones, the association’s board president, who also co-owns Chicago Homes Realty Group & Property Management and serves as executive director of the nonprofit Black Coalition for Housing.

“A lot of negative history is attached to that word,” Jones said. “The subliminal messaging just continues to perpetuate a message of inferiority, or submission.”

But adjusting language can only go so far, said Pippion McGriff, who is also a broker with DreamTown.

“I think at this point, we’re beyond words,” she said. “We need more specific action. Personally, I think it’s a Band-Aid.”

Pippion McGriff got into the real estate business 15 years ago after buying her first home. Learning about grants and other funding options she’d never heard of proved an eye-opening experience.

Realtor Nykea Pippion McGriff wears a face mask to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 as she turns off a stairwell light while showing a home in the Avondale neighborhood May 2, 2020, in Chicago. (John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune)So was seeing discrimination firsthand against buyers with federal housing choice vouchers; five years ago, Pippion McGriff had clients with a voucher looking for a three-bedroom home in the South Loop or Loop who were repeatedly turned down with no explanation.

“Brokers look for ways to circumvent it, but they need to learn that source of income is a protected class,” she said. “The first question was, ‘Is this Section 8?’ Well, yes, and it’s also a protected class with pretty much guaranteed income for your client. But I was unable to find them a property in the area they wanted to be in. It was completely disheartening.”

It’s not enough, either, to simply treat everyone the same now, industry leaders said — Black people are still too many laps behind on the metaphorical Monopoly board.

“We talk a lot about gentrification and the result of that, but the communities need more access to capital,” Pippion McGriff said. Loans for rehabbing blighted properties, alternative lines of credit, and funds for first-time home buyers are key areas where investment is needed, she said.

Changes in lending practices based on factors like credit scores and risk calculations — with the consequence often being a Black family paying more for the same loan because they’re considered a riskier borrower — would give disadvantaged borrowers a fair shake, Jones said.

“A clean slate, to me, would mean everybody has access to capital at the same cost,” Jones said.

But that’ll be difficult in a post-pandemic world, where spikes in unemployment have lenders changing guidelines or requiring more money for a down payment, said Sheila Dantzler, a real estate agent with Jameson Sotheby’s International Realty who also builds and rehabs buildings in her Bronzeville neighborhood.

While the percent difference might seem small, the cost of a higher-interest loan over its decades-long term could come at the expense of college tuition, retirement savings or other means of increasing wealth. When the pattern repeats across generations, the loss only grows.

Over the past four decades, the median home in redlined neighborhoods in Chicago netted $232,000 less in home equity — about half what the median home in greenlined neighborhoods gained, according to a June report from real estate brokerage Redfin.

“If society cares about all of its members, then it’s important we push for this proportionate economic benefi

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