October 29, 2025 • 37 mins
Two-time Emmy and three-time NAACP Image Award-winning television Executive Producer Rushion McDonald interviewed Booker T. Washington.
🎯 Purpose of the Interview
To spotlight Booker T. Washington’s innovative work in real estate development—specifically his creation of micro home communities in Atlanta—and to inspire underserved communities to pursue homeownership as a path to wealth, stability, and empowerment.
🧭 Key Takeaways 1. Vision Behind Teche Homes
- Teche Homes builds micro home communities (not tiny homes) ranging from 400–1000 sq ft.
- Focused on affordable, accessible homeownership in urban areas, especially for Black communities.
- Projects aim to revitalize blighted neighborhoods and promote reverse gentrification.
2. Flagship Projects
- South Park Cottages: 29 homes on 2.8 acres in College Park, GA. Sold out before construction.
- Union Park Cottages: 26 homes + coffee shop in Union City, GA. First mixed-use micro home community in the U.S.
- Upcoming: The Park at Brawley in partnership with Killer Mike and Shay Render.
3. Affordability & Impact
- Average home price: $180K–$220K.
- Average buyer: 40 years old, $80K+ income.
- Mortgage: ~$1,800/month—comparable to rent in metro areas.
- Emphasis on ownership over renting to build generational wealth.
4. Community Features
- Full-size appliances, smart home tech (e.g., palm readers, motion lights).
- Shared amenities: gardens, grills, walking paths.
- No garages—shared parking to maximize land use.
5. Social Mission
- Tackles systemic issues: housing inequality, food deserts, underfunded schools.
- Generates tax revenue to support local services (e.g., teachers, police).
- Promotes “pride of ownership” and community uplift.
6. National Raffle
- $250 entry for a chance to win a fully furnished $250K home.
- Proceeds support down payment assistance and homeownership education.
- Winner announced Christmas Eve.
💬 Notable Quotes
- “You’re not locked out. You’ve just been stifled with a vision of home availability that you don’t know you can get.”
- “We call it reverse gentrification.”
- “You can’t allow your dreams to just sit inside of you… they’re God dreams.”
- “We took a $150K piece of dirt and turned it into $6.3M of real estate value.”
- “Faith without works is dead. And we do a lot of non-work in some of these Black communities.”
- “You’ve given away $240,000 in rent by age 37. That’s your down payment.”
🔗 Call to Action
- Website: techie-homes.com
- Instagram: @techiehomes | @mrbookert
#SHMS #STRAW #BEST
Steve Harvey Morning Show Online: http://www.steveharveyfm.com/
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Him.
Speaker 2 (00:00):
Rashan McDonald I host this weekly Money Making Conversation Masterclass show.
The interviews and information that this show provides off for everyone.
It's time to start reading other people's success stories and
start living your own now. If you want to be
a guest on my show, Money Making Conversations Masterclass, please
visit our website, Moneymakingconversations dot com and click to be
(00:21):
a guest button. If you're a small business owner, entrepreneur,
motivational speaker, influencer, or nonprofit now let's get to my guests.
My guess is an Atlanta based real estate developer and
founder of Techy Homes, the innovative company behind one of
the city's most forward thinking micro community movements with more
than sixty million dollars in real estate development today. Please
(00:45):
welcome to Money Making Conversations Masterclass.
Speaker 1 (00:47):
Booker T. Washington. Hew you doing, sir, I'm doing great. Hello.
You've been living with a name like Booker T.
Speaker 3 (00:52):
Washington, Sir, Oh life, long life, loan, lifelong? I you
know story for my The name is tel aferaoh soe
in the middle of Booker Telfaril Washington born in Tuskegee,
born on the campus of Tuskeig Institute founded by Booker T.
Speaker 1 (01:07):
Washington.
Speaker 3 (01:09):
And funny fact is, my brother's name is George Washington Carver.
Speaker 1 (01:13):
I love it. I respect that. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (01:15):
So, so my mom really really set us out for historians. Yes, yep,
she was an adjunct professional tuskege and she wanted us
to try to achieve some greatness with those names.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
Now sixty million dollars to date. Yes, sir, tell us
how that started? Yes, sir, and why are you the man?
Speaker 1 (01:35):
Well, it all started with one community.
Speaker 3 (01:39):
South Park Colleges in College Park, Georgia is part of Atlanta.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
It's part of Atlanta Metro Atlanta.
Speaker 3 (01:45):
It is three minutes from the airport, fifteen minutes from
downtown Atlanta. It's synonymous for a lot of our artists, rappers,
influencers being from that area. Ludacris is from that area,
two changes from that area. Cam Newton is from that area.
So a lot of affluent people we follow the day
(02:07):
and a lot of successful people have been birthed and
come out and grown up in College Park, including myself.
So I've had an opportunity to live around a lot
of housing developments around Metro Atlanta, and we spent a
few years in College Park. That's what drove me to
come back to that community, to build this dream and
build this development. So it started with South Park Colleges,
America's first black and minority built micro home community ever.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
It's twenty nine homes on two point.
Speaker 3 (02:34):
Eight acres, beautifully nestled at the dead end of one
of the most povers, blighted, crime ridden streets you would
think of in and around Atlanta. And that community is
one that's a beacon of hope because that community sold out.
Speaker 1 (02:51):
All homes were for sale, homes.
Speaker 3 (02:53):
At an average price of one hundred and eighty thousand dollars,
and each one of those homes sold before even one
home was built. And this was after the people's buying
those homes all over the spectrum. So when we talk
about accessibility and affordability, we don't mean poor. It's not
another synonym for the word poor. So for people who
are looking to make great financial decisions about real estate,
(03:15):
either for their first time home purchase, their secondary home purchase,
or they've grown and had a lot of homes and
they want to sell the bigger home and come down
to a home that they feel fits both their affordability. Now,
affordability is relative relative, So our average home purchasing age
is forty years of age. The average income of the
(03:36):
person purchasing these homes is over eighty thousand.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
Now, let's talk about affordability and who are you targeting
with these opportunities.
Speaker 3 (03:47):
Well, we really target anyone and everyone with them, So
we're not very specific around aage or a person or
a gender. We want everyone race or race. We want
everyone to be able to find accessibility in these major
urban areas.
Speaker 1 (04:01):
Let me give you some examples.
Speaker 3 (04:03):
The average square footage of a one bedroom or two
bedroom apartment in the city of Atlanta is six hundred
and seventy five square feet believe it or not.
Speaker 1 (04:11):
And how many bedrooms is that? That's just one bedroom?
Speaker 3 (04:14):
Okay, the average two bedroom apartment now in metro Atlanta
is only eight hundred and fifty square feet. The brand
new construction apartments they build are even smaller than that. Now,
over four point two million Atlantans living apartment So when
people say, well, who's purchasing a cottage home or microhome.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
More times than not you already live in one. You
just call it an apartment, right, but you don't own it.
Speaker 3 (04:38):
So that is where we went with the dream of
building cottage homes is we wanted to provide a home
ownership model to meet you where you were at the
price point you already pay without having you change your
income bracket.
Speaker 1 (04:52):
I got you right there.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
Let's let's slow down and get more people engage who
are watching or listener. How is there a website they
can go to right down.
Speaker 3 (04:59):
The visit us at www dot tech E T E
C h I E dash homes dot com. Or they
can follow us on Instagram either at at techie homes
or they can follow me personally at at mister Booker.
Speaker 2 (05:13):
T Okay, cool, Now we get back that we got
that out. If somebody where's they have a rent or something,
here's my whole thing about book t. Let's describe that
home in that community, sir. What's the size of the
average home there.
Speaker 3 (05:28):
Average home size in our community is six hundred square feet.
They range from one bedrooms to two bedrooms. They have
open space. Everything's full size, so nothing small about your
living quarters. You got regular sized, queen size beds, king
sized beds, watch drive connections, full kitchen, sofa us the
whole nine yards. You got full patio setups, and they're
(05:48):
all nestled within a subdivision like community. So if you
think about your average subdivision where you got sidewalks, you
got front porches and neighbors walking out side visiting each other.
That's what our community set up is. We have a
connectivity of everyone being looking at each other, connected to
each other, having porches and amenities because we have vegetable guards, right,
(06:11):
we have barbecue grills, okay, within the community. Within the community,
we have a sidewalk walking path that is close to
a mile of radius. That within the community, so twenty
nine homes, two point nine acres, and we call it
the park. That's the reason why we call it South
Park Cottages because it gives you all the peace, tranquility
(06:35):
and things you assimilate with regular subdivision living.
Speaker 1 (06:39):
But you live in a.
Speaker 3 (06:41):
Metro area close to all of the urban jobs and
employment that you need to be.
Speaker 1 (06:47):
Okay cool. Now, with that being said, garages, no garages.
Share parking, okay, share parking, you mean large parking.
Speaker 3 (06:56):
Lots similar to similar to an apartment complex where there's
one big, large parking lot and all the cars parked there.
We have the same setup in our communities because we
decided on two reasons why. One, for those who own garages,
believe it or not, seventy one percent of them don't
park a car in it use this storage.
Speaker 1 (07:17):
They use it as storage.
Speaker 3 (07:19):
So instead of trying to solve covering the car from rain,
we decided to start coming up with creative ways for
storage of the things that you want to hold near
and dear to you. So that's one. The second portion
is we wanted to provide more housing availability with the
land that we have.
Speaker 1 (07:35):
Now.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
The Master's question, if you could speak to first time
home buyers, we feel locked out of the market, what
would you tell them right now?
Speaker 3 (07:44):
You're not locked You've just been stifled with a vision
of home availability that you don't know that you can get.
Because people are giving people who feel like they're locked
out of the market a product in disguising it as
that's the only thing available.
Speaker 1 (07:59):
Let me give you an example.
Speaker 3 (08:00):
Inside of Metro Atlanta, the average home medium home price,
it's four hundred and thirty seven thousand, correct. So you
would sit in an apartment and say, I can't afford
to buy anything in this city until I save up
enough to buy a four hundred and thirty seven thousand
dollar house.
Speaker 1 (08:14):
But this is the kicker.
Speaker 3 (08:15):
The people building the apartments for you to rent out
of are the same people own the lands who refuse
to build single family homes on those lands because they
know they got you trapped in renting from them.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
We know the thing that and thank you book coming
on Money Making Conversation master Class. Because I'm frustrated with
my community. And my community is the Black community. Yeah,
because we seem to be trapped into a cycle. Yes,
cycle of education, cycle of technology, cycle of living conditions. Yes,
and I want to change that. That's why you're on
(08:50):
this shelf.
Speaker 1 (08:51):
Now. I want to clearly.
Speaker 2 (08:53):
Describe there's a difference between your micro community and tiny home.
You're not building a tiny home community, no, sir.
Speaker 3 (09:01):
We build microhomes, which are homes or cottages that are
between four hundred square feet and a thousand square feet, right,
and a four hundred to a thousand square foot home
you're average. You're going to average two bedrooms and two
bath But let me.
Speaker 1 (09:13):
Tell you this.
Speaker 3 (09:14):
Your grandparents and your parents, they more times than not
lived in a microhome by definition of square footage. Because
between the sixties and seventies, the average home square footage
eight hundred and seventy five square before I grew.
Speaker 2 (09:29):
Up in a two bedroom shotgun house. Of course, my
six sisters and two brothers. I'm very much aware of
tight space, yes, and then still getting a lot of
love and that christ because I remember it was all
my brothers and sisters. We was in one room and
we only had one bath, correct, and our parents were
on the other same side.
Speaker 1 (09:49):
But they were down the hall. Correct.
Speaker 2 (09:50):
Wasn't that much down the hall? No, they were just
down the hall. So but I'm not trying to promote tightness.
I'm not trying to say anybody has to step down
when they come to your location. But I have tried
to prove with the fact that when you are contributed
to success and the build out of upput mobility and
the community correcause, what you're bringing in is you up
(10:11):
and raising the value of the land, correct, which means
that property taxes and school taxes, which means that the
school education quality goes up.
Speaker 1 (10:20):
Police the whole point talk.
Speaker 2 (10:22):
About what value you bring outside of the fact that
affordable housing brings that community, because this is not going
to be your only development, No, And.
Speaker 3 (10:31):
You bring up some great points our building of our
communities isn't about giving people a choice of something downward
or something that's different. Then it's a choice of real estate,
life cycle of upper mobility. Because just as your pain
points with the Black community, we have sunken ourselves into
an experience culture.
Speaker 1 (10:51):
Give me fun, give me experience, give me lifestyle.
Speaker 3 (10:55):
But at the same time they don't recognize that the
lifestyle is the same thing keeping them away from upper
more mobility.
Speaker 1 (11:00):
The experience is what's keeping away from up mobility.
Speaker 3 (11:03):
And that's what some of the marketplace will want to
teach you because they benefit from it. So for our communities,
these twenty nine homes not only just up the value.
We took a blighted piece of dirt at the end
of a dad end for one hundred and fifty thousand
that's how much the dirt costs, and we turned it
into six point three million dollars of real estate value,
(11:25):
and we generated one hundred and seventy five thousand dollars
on annum of tax I can buy one more fire truck,
I can employ two more teachers, I can buy I
can afford to pay two more police officers. So those
things that we complain about the most in the black community, crime, education,
lack thereof commercial food, food, deserts. All of that stuff
(11:49):
is created by rooftops, home ownership rooftops, and the more
we don't have homeownership rooftops, you're not going to have
whole foods in your neighborhood. You're not going to have publics.
You're not going to have the things that make you
well and those things that don't make you well. It's
the same thing you should be achieving for because they're
both in a related but we haven't caught up to
(12:10):
that in our psyche. We're so caught up in experience
and lifestyle that we missed the whole boat on why
your total lifestyle is a struggle.
Speaker 1 (12:18):
Then, you know, book at you watch you know, you're articulate,
you know you're smooth. You and kill them in the
same room. I'm sure black killing is not on this show.
Between you and killing Mike, I probably had to stopped out.
And that's a compliment.
Speaker 2 (12:32):
That's a compliment, but a lot of but what compliments
come they say?
Speaker 1 (12:37):
Oh, yeah, absolutely, you know, and people.
Speaker 2 (12:40):
Told you I'm gonna use the word crazy, yoh yeah,
I told you crazy.
Speaker 1 (12:44):
Going to the black neighborhood. Like you said the word blighted. Correct?
How did you overcome that, young brother?
Speaker 3 (12:50):
The only way to overcome the negativity of what it
is is to aspire to have a dream that solves
a bigger problem. If you think about anyone who's tried
to solve a bigger problem, either through policy, doctor king
through action.
Speaker 1 (13:07):
H J. Russell.
Speaker 3 (13:09):
H J. Russell, as people don't know, is the person
who built the airport.
Speaker 1 (13:13):
Of Atlanta the world. He stuttered. He was a stutterer.
He was a stutterer.
Speaker 3 (13:20):
And in collaboration and connection between Maynad Jackson, Ambassador Andrew Young,
and others, they created an ecosystem for black excellence and
black success in an area that they said, we're going
to do it here.
Speaker 1 (13:35):
We're not going to do it anywhere else. We're going
to do it right here.
Speaker 3 (13:38):
So we stood it fast to say, if we create
a catalyst, will set.
Speaker 1 (13:43):
A fire amongst everybody else. We are so.
Speaker 3 (13:48):
Taught, we're taught to follow the lead because that's what
they want you to do. But we don't set enough
catalysts within our own communities to start a revolution.
Speaker 1 (13:59):
So that is what we did.
Speaker 3 (14:01):
We said, if we can show them that it can
be done where they live, how they live.
Speaker 1 (14:05):
Guess what two things we accomplish.
Speaker 3 (14:07):
We actually decrease crime because guess what, people in the
black community actually respect where they live. They don't respect
people party and profiting from where they live, which is
why vandalism and stuff. People say, well, in the black community,
watch out, they gonna tear it down and make it
a ghetto.
Speaker 1 (14:27):
No, they actually.
Speaker 3 (14:29):
Respect the community so much that they uplift it and
keep it good. Because one thing I always knew because
I grew up in blighted communities, the one thing you
never did. You never disrespected your mama's house, or your
grandma's house or the candy lady house. Okay, you only
disrespect the different places that you can attribute any value to.
But we stop building values in these neighborhoods. So that's
(14:50):
why the black community is always thinking the black community
is where you need to move from. No, it's where
you need to build up.
Speaker 2 (14:57):
Right right, because property value is low. And again and
like we just talk, wants you up to prop the
value through new construction, homeownership, then stores come into place.
It really becomes a community that you can reinvent. Another words, Basically,
what you're doing is creating your own correct gentrification.
Speaker 1 (15:16):
We call it reverse gentrification.
Speaker 3 (15:18):
We can take you out of the same apartment you
live in and the same hood you live in, and
put you in a home ownership model in the same
community that you love without changing your income.
Speaker 1 (15:26):
Right. But zi or zip code.
Speaker 3 (15:30):
But other developers, and I'm around a lot of multimillion
dollar and billion dollar developers, they target blacked communities to
depress the value because that's the only way to make
real money.
Speaker 1 (15:42):
So you want to say, hey, money making money moves.
Speaker 3 (15:45):
These people are making money moves while you sleep because
they're intentionally depressing things.
Speaker 1 (15:49):
You don't want to buy.
Speaker 3 (15:50):
And they give you one other version of look at
it and say, well, let me get you to move over
to this neighborhood and buy this fancy apartment and live
this luxury lifestyle and take all your discretionarya and come away.
At the same time, go back into the hoods you
moved from, depress the property value, and come back around
ten years later and develop a whole new ecosystem that
prices you out, which is what's happened in East Atlanta,
(16:11):
in West Atlanta, and in North Atlanta.
Speaker 1 (16:14):
Please don't go anywhere.
Speaker 4 (16:15):
We'll be right back with more Money Making Conversations master Class.
Welcome back to Money Making Conversation Master Class with me
Rashawn McDonald cool.
Speaker 1 (16:28):
I'm talking to Booker T. Washington.
Speaker 2 (16:30):
He's in Atlanta based real estate developer and founder of
Techy Homes as tec Hie Homes, the innovative company behind
one of the city's move forward thinking micro not tainting
home micro community movements, which is he has more than
sixty million dollars in real estate development today. Now you
told me earlier to stop at the top. We said
(16:52):
with Sean, I got twenty nine home, they gone gone.
Now I'm left that brother. Come on that are you
on my show?
Speaker 3 (16:59):
They're talking about So we have plenty of more that
we've done since that twenty nine Okay, So we actually
just completed our second community, which is Union Park Cottages
located in Union City, Georgia. Twenty six homes plus a
coffee shop. It is America's first mixed use microhome and
cottage community.
Speaker 1 (17:19):
That explained to people what mix use me.
Speaker 3 (17:21):
Mixed use means in the same piece of land, same
piece of development, You've put together both residential living and
commercial development. Meaning retail commerce for the common public. Now,
because both exist in the same place, we call it
mixed use.
Speaker 1 (17:37):
But also it's a.
Speaker 3 (17:38):
Mixed use of market value and a mixed use of marketability.
So it is America's first sub one thousand square footage
home community that incorporates both mixed use and residential use.
But that's not the only special thing about that community.
That community has a technological computer lab where we teach
entrepreneurship and AI efficiencies. It is a coffee shop that
(18:03):
has ten percent ownership by the residents, So everything in
the coffee shop generates ten percent of that goes back
into the neighborhood for which those people purchased a home.
So just because you decided to purchase a two hundred
and twenty thousand dollars home in Union Park Cottages, I
just didn't make you a residential homeowner. I made you
a commercial owner.
Speaker 2 (18:23):
Does these properties these communities do have hoa's.
Speaker 3 (18:26):
They have hoa's, and so the hoa's only helped manage
that that that.
Speaker 1 (18:31):
Profitability and that movement over time.
Speaker 3 (18:34):
But because we build sustainable communities, because our communities have
solar lights in the parking lot, we use a lot
of stormwater management incentives. So our average HOA is one
hundred and eighty dollars. Now that includes your water. So
only bill you have in your house because it's all electric,
is an electric bill and internet bill.
Speaker 1 (18:52):
Eight. Look at the years, special man, I gotta slow
you down there. Where did all this come from? Brother?
Speaker 2 (18:59):
Your back, the real estate, your confidence, your education. Let's
go back a little bit before I get into the
rifle that we want to talk about your foundation, but
this confidence I am looking at, I am hearing this education.
Start with the confidence and the education first, and then
we're going to talk about the experience that qualifies you
(19:20):
to do what you say you're doing well.
Speaker 3 (19:23):
My background started, really, man, in just being impoverished and
the confidence that you can't get any lower than where
you already are. I was fortunate enough to have a
single mom who worked. She didn't have a great paying job,
but she worked, and she showed us what work did.
Work created movement, work created income, Work created the opportunity
(19:45):
to wake up another day and try it again. So
for me, when we moved out of those projects and
I became older and I got out of school, I
got out of college, I didn't have the best grades
in college. But when I got out of college, my
first few jobs were working in restaurants at Georgia Southern University.
Speaker 1 (20:04):
So when I got out.
Speaker 3 (20:05):
Of school and came back, I just said, you know what,
the only thing I know to do to make income
is work, because you know this world isn't promising me
want some trajectory. I didn't come from a family of money.
I didn't come from a family of connections. So but
as I worked, people recognized that work in me and
continue to give me opportunity and opportunity after opportunity. So
a few years later I grew into having this fabulous
(20:29):
human resource career as an executive, and I ended up
working for Tesla. I ended up working for Elon Musk
and being the head of human resources for the factory
in California.
Speaker 1 (20:42):
Ended up working for Arthur Blank family of companies, ended.
Speaker 3 (20:44):
Up working for my dream job, which is the Atlanta
Falcons and Mercedes being Stadium.
Speaker 1 (20:48):
Ended up working for the Atlanta Hawks.
Speaker 3 (20:49):
And all of that from this young black boy who
grew up on the streets of Camplton Road, and that
came from work and work ethic. Now you say where
the confidence came from is because you.
Speaker 1 (20:58):
Had to earn every everything.
Speaker 3 (21:01):
Okay, I was helping my mom pay rent at the
age of fourteen. So for me, I tell people, you
can't allow your dreams just to sit inside of you,
because they really aren't your dreams.
Speaker 1 (21:12):
There's God dreams and you're a vehicle of that vision.
Speaker 3 (21:15):
And if you don't go use your vehicle to express
the dreams and visions he's given you because you didn't
give it to yourself, then he's going to move on
from you to another blessing. And one thing I learned
when I started talking about my development hopes and dreams
when I was working for Tesla out in California. One
person at Tesla in and around our executive group. I
(21:39):
was walking around with Elon one time, and he's polarizing,
and I get that, but you know one thing that
he said that was so keen. He said, well, if
you're doing all of your dreaming and trying to work
that dream from here, then who's going to work your
dream for you? And then if you think about our community,
we're always trying to get this person in, that person
(22:00):
and this person. This person helped you out achieve your dream.
He said, well, everybody's doing that. He says, you should
never third part of your dream because it's your dream
that never understand it. So that's when I quit Corporate
America and became a full time developer.
Speaker 1 (22:13):
We've only been developing for five years.
Speaker 3 (22:15):
In five years, I've gone from having a negative bank
account to have built an organization that has more than
sixty million dollars in development. We have more than three
communities that's in the air. We've made more than fifty
five homeowners in two and a half years, and we've
taken lands that are one hundred thousand dollars and created
them into mult about millions on just one simple idea
(22:37):
getting you home ownership, however possible.
Speaker 2 (22:40):
Here two individuals that are key in this conversation. I
joked around and bro this name of Killer Mike. Yeah,
and doctor Jamal Bryant, who has been very instrumental in
the protests of Barakot basically of Target Grocery. Absolutely that
turned their point of view when they were denying DEI
correct opportunities.
Speaker 1 (22:59):
And he was leader.
Speaker 2 (23:00):
I know sometimes other people have been taking credit for that, yes,
but it's doctor Jamal Bryant based in Atlanta, Georgia. By
way of Baltimore. Yes, first more house graduate, by the
way he is. Yes, Sam, When you say those two individuals,
what roles are they playing and how instrumental is Killer Mike.
Speaker 3 (23:20):
So when we talk about both those individuals, simply but
but but Michael Randa Killer Mike, He's not just a partner,
He's a friend and he and it's not just him,
is his wife Shana Render.
Speaker 1 (23:31):
They we are family. They not only.
Speaker 3 (23:36):
Have come across to partner with me in developments, we've
invested together and we are from the same yelk in
the same communities. Mike also grew up in southwest Atlanta
and all we wanted to do is make good on
our work ethic and our ability to dream and have
a bigger, bigger visibility. And he shares that with me,
(23:56):
his wife shares that with me. So our next element,
the park at Brawley, is going to be in partnership
with him and his wife, and it's going to be
a way to bring back from some of his original
purchases in real estate, which are in blighted communities away
for him to realize that dream through working with us
at Techy Homes and working through how we want to
bring accessibility to home ownership.
Speaker 1 (24:16):
So that partnership has been huge.
Speaker 3 (24:18):
So he's going to be part of what we do
with Tekey Homes now as well.
Speaker 1 (24:21):
As Doctor Bryant.
Speaker 3 (24:23):
Doctor Brian has a Way of Baltimore has come to
lead New Birth Baptist Newbirth Church here in Atlanta, and
he's definitely fought against d I and how it has
targeted well. Target was basically taking commerce away and parting
off of our communities. So he wanted to bring that
to light. But another great way he's wanted to bring
(24:44):
it to light is to bring wealth building through home
ownership at the church on the lands for which he pastors.
Speaker 1 (24:52):
So we're gonna, in partnership.
Speaker 3 (24:54):
With other developers, build out in new Birth Village more
than one hundred sensible and affordable homes cottage homes. And
that's because we have a shared dream, a shared vision
we want to bring to deplete the wealth gap. And
he's been a great leader the steward to bring the
church not just out of pastoring and mentor and ministring,
(25:15):
but wealth building in the community, because that's one thing
the Black church has to do better. We can pastor,
we can provide hope, We can provide a God and
light to God. But God has always said faith without
works is dead. And we do a lot of non
work in some of these black communities. So he's activating
both what he says and the work. And we're also
(25:38):
going to bring home ownership to his community as well.
Speaker 2 (25:41):
Now let's talk about you are a real estate developer,
real state developer. The experienced part of that. You know
of the technical side, the building side. Let's talk about that,
and so my audists can get a clear understanding. Eloquent
and how you speak, yes, very smart, I should say articulately,
(26:04):
and how you speak very smart.
Speaker 1 (26:09):
Take us to the next step of how people come
to you and.
Speaker 2 (26:12):
Are assured that these properties that are being put out
there or something's gonna last ten years, fifteen years.
Speaker 1 (26:20):
Oh, I think also will leave for their children. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (26:22):
Absolutely, So number one thing about doing anything, it's gonna
do it with purpose and pride. So I'm a forward
leaning real estate developer. So I distinguished this in all
the ways of how real estate works. You have developers,
you have investors, you have builders, okay.
Speaker 1 (26:40):
And you have contractors. I'm a visionary of a type.
Speaker 3 (26:44):
So my vision, my vision, my strategies, my ability to
galvanize investments.
Speaker 1 (26:49):
That's what makes me.
Speaker 3 (26:50):
A real estate developer, to put together a whole vision.
That doesn't mean I build the homes, but in my vision,
we absolutely want long term value and recyclable marketable value.
Speaker 1 (27:00):
You only do that in the building quality that you do.
So our goal and.
Speaker 3 (27:04):
Innovative design in the small space is to get some
of the best contractors we can find at the best
rates in order to provide people affordability. So for example,
our communities have one hundred percent fiber sement sighting on
the outside, making it one hundred percent fire retardant, mole retardant,
water retardant, and that type of quality in a small
(27:26):
box with luxury updates as far as waterproof flooring and
ceramic polished tile. Those kinds of things is what makes
people have an uptick of pride of ownership.
Speaker 1 (27:36):
We need to bring that back as well.
Speaker 3 (27:37):
Pride of ownership the thing that make you go out
and shine that car, the thing that makes you go
out and cut that grass, and that's the type of
community set up we bring. So I do that as
a developer, but I also galvanize and bring together builders
and investors to make it all a group project, because
development is not a secular initiative, it is a group project.
Speaker 1 (27:58):
The word techi welln't even talked about tech.
Speaker 2 (28:02):
I'll be remiss if I didn't find out why the
word teching homes is tied to you? What technology are
we app controlling this house?
Speaker 1 (28:11):
Now?
Speaker 3 (28:12):
What if I told you everything about technology that you
know is human activated? And where do you spend most
of your time as a human? You spend it at home.
So our designs of our homes does incubate and tie
in smart home technologies, but it also ties in efficiency
and so some examples to that, we have palm reading,
(28:32):
fingerprint reading, hands free door openers for a lot of
our homes, and our tech packages we have self lighting
and movement lighting stairs for the elderly. Because if you
think about efficiency as a home in the darker night,
when you're trying to get to the to the bathroom,
where you're trying to get to the kitchen, do you
want to be figuring around where the light switch is?
(28:52):
You want your home. You want your home to evolve
with you. Right, you want a refrigerator that keeps stock
of your leftovers, and since you're remind us to order
more milk, order more water while you're at work, so
the efficiency of your life. A stove that turns on
at four o'clock because it knows you arrive home at
(29:14):
five point thirty, so your dinners already worn right. Those
kinds of things we put in our smart home technologies.
That's why we call it Techi Homes because we realize
your home is where you need the most tech influence
in order to make more efficiency so you can stop
struggling in life practices and start living more abundantly. So
a tagline we have at Teching Homes is life more abundantly.
Speaker 2 (29:38):
This is a national show, yes, sir Okati, And we've
been talking about Atlanta. It's to be remissed to say, hey,
some people might be mad in Philadelphia, might be mad
in Chicago might be mad, and Lost might be mad. Dallas,
might be mad Houston. But you have a national raffle, Yes, sir.
Why are the Atlanta based developer having a national raffle?
Speaker 1 (30:00):
Two things? Home ownership is a national problem.
Speaker 3 (30:07):
Is yes, based and founded here in Atlanta through me,
But we have a stretch of our organization that is
stretching out to other communities that we're planning in other
cities in those states. But our emphasis of ownership comes
from my lack thereof my mom, who passed the day
of sixty five, never owned a thing, never owned a car,
never paid off a car, never owned a home, worked
(30:29):
her entire life as an insurance broker, telling people to
have insurance, to have a backbone to their life, and
didn't have any life insurance when she passed. So those
types of settlements about my story and past, it gives
me a passion and everything we do not just to
profit from our communities, but to give back to our communities.
(30:51):
In South Park Colleges, our originating development, we did a
raffle there as well and gave a home away, free
and clear, de free and clear to a woman who
had never owned anything in her life, was a janitor
in Fulton County school systems and now has a home
worth more than two hundred and twenty five thousand dollars.
(31:12):
So our national raffle here in Union Park College is
where we're going to do it again. Is we're going
to raffle off a home for two hundred and fifty
dollars for entry U fifty thousand for a two hundred
and fifty thousand dollars.
Speaker 1 (31:26):
So maybe I misunderstood. You say two hundred and fifty dollars, Yes,
gets you a ticket? Okay? Cool? For a two hundred
and fifty dollars opportunity, yes.
Speaker 2 (31:36):
Home that you can win? Yes, okay cool Claire, they
get out apologize nowhere, what is just raffle campaign? How
do they enter?
Speaker 1 (31:44):
So?
Speaker 3 (31:45):
Our raffle campaign is about getting home ownership to everybody
who wants to get it without all the nuances of mortgages,
with all the nuances of qualifications, without all the nuances
of does I have all of my financial things in order?
Because we want to get it to whoever is deserving.
So for two hundred and fifty dollars an entry ticket,
which those proceeds going to help both foundations headed by
(32:07):
myself and Michael Render. Those foundations are gonna go to
help down payment assistance, it's gonna help on education, on
getting you into a home, It's gonna help on education,
on your credit files. Because for those people who are
trying to find home ownership, it's not because they can't,
it's just because they're missing pieces of it. So those
proceeds will go for us to fund people's down payment system,
(32:29):
because we're always relying upon the bank, relying upon the government,
relying upon our employer, relying upon the mortgage company. How
about if somebody that looks like you, talk like you,
came from where you are, he said, you know what,
I got some down payment money.
Speaker 1 (32:43):
For you too. So those what the proceeds helped for.
Speaker 3 (32:45):
But for that home, somebody is going to win them
a full outfitted home. Let me tell you the qualifications.
You have to be just twenty one years of age.
You have to be able to live in the home.
You can't sell the home for three years. Yes, thank you. Okay,
it's gonna come fully furnished. Just bring yourself. It's gonna
(33:06):
come and everything outfitted, all appliances, all furnishings, all everything.
We're paying your utilities for a year. We're paying your
taxes for a year because we want you to be
able to air this home without the stress of trying
to start up all of the requirements of being in
at home. And it's home for the holidays. So this
(33:29):
home is going to start raffle November first, but we're
going to raffle it off Christmas Eve, so on Christmas Eve.
Somebody is going to become worth more than a quarter
million dollars just because they sought our home ownership. They
had two hundred and fifty dollars and they were willing
(33:50):
to bet on themselves.
Speaker 2 (33:52):
Wow, you're hearing this story from a young man. KICKI Alabama.
Mama gave me that name. Gives us brother named George Washington.
That right, But it's the Atlanta based real estate development
founder of Techi Halls.
Speaker 1 (34:04):
All right.
Speaker 2 (34:05):
I could have used that this morning if I was
going through my bathroom at three o'clock. I use those
licens automatically coming round. So I appreciate the innovative company
behind one of the city's most forward thinking micro community movements.
One last question, the process of you mentioned during our interview. Yes,
about people living in the apartments being able to live
(34:27):
in your community. Correct, So just give people a range
of what rent they might be paying, they can allow
them to sustain a lifestyle and afford their micro community.
Speaker 3 (34:40):
We break it down inside of the metro counties of Atlanta,
and I'll take any metro area. You can take Charlotte,
you take Miami, you can take Dallas, you can take Houston.
All their average rents are about the same a one
bedroom we call class be a class A. I'm not
talking about the slum of the slum apartments. I'm talking
about a pretty much middle of the road apartment to
very nice. You're gonna pay for a one bedroom apartment
(35:01):
about seventeen hundred dollars a month. For a two bedroom apartment,
you're going to pay close to twenty one hundred dollars
a month.
Speaker 1 (35:07):
Now, that's what you pay in rent.
Speaker 3 (35:09):
You still have your regular bills, utility bills, all of
that stuff is going to add up to about four
thousand dollars a month to live in that apartment. Okay,
that's without subsidy. So to have that, you got to
have an income somewhere between sixty thousand and eighty thousand
dollars a year. Now, if that is your income base,
(35:31):
you still can't afford the regular brand new built subdivision
house because that average house is four hundred and thirty
seven thousand dollars or four hundred thousand dollars. You need
to make more than one hundred and fifty thousand dollars
yourself in order to afford to purchase that home. This
is why people say I'm choosing to rent from now
because they think that they're saving up to be able
to purchase a home one day.
Speaker 1 (35:53):
But look at the world today.
Speaker 3 (35:54):
You have employers laying off, you have the government shut down,
you have the stock market upside and down.
Speaker 1 (36:00):
The finished line is going to keep moving on you.
Speaker 3 (36:03):
So in this environment where the finished line is going
to keep moving on you, we create a home that
you can own that every penny that you put into
it will come back. So by the time the world settles,
or you get married, or you have a child, or
you get that very big job, now, instead of starting over,
your home and your piggy bank is now catapult you
(36:23):
into the next versions of your life. And that is
what our cottage communities do. Because our average mortgage for
our average two hundred and twenty thousand dollars home is
eighteen hundred dollars. Because the average age of the first
time home buyer in the city of Atlanta is thirty
seven years of age, that means by the time you
go from a working adult, which is about twenty or
twenty one to thirty seven, you've almost spent two decades
(36:46):
in paying rent. You've given away without any reputable return
close to two hundred and forty thousand dollars of cash.
Speaker 1 (36:57):
Wow. Well, I want to thank you for coming on
the show.
Speaker 3 (37:01):
Man.
Speaker 1 (37:02):
I can continue to talk with you.
Speaker 2 (37:04):
But like I said, man, you're a gifted communicator and
I respect that. I respect all my questions that you
didn't hesitate, which means that everything's based on fact.
Speaker 1 (37:14):
And the reality. Are you you want? You got doors?
You can knock on de justess case somebody say, what
are you doing? Is that?
Speaker 3 (37:20):
Come on?
Speaker 1 (37:21):
Let me show you. Yeah, that's right. Give everybody your
website again before we leaving your contact.
Speaker 3 (37:25):
Infrom absolutely again. My name is Bookt Washington founa CEO
of Techi Holmes. You can reach us at www dot tech,
E T E C h I E dash homes dot com.
Reach us on Instagram at Techi Holmes. Reach us on
Instagram my personal page at mister booker T.
Speaker 1 (37:40):
Thank you, sir for coming on Money Making Conversations Masterclass.
Speaker 2 (37:43):
Yes, sir, this has been Money Making Conversations Masterclass with
Rashaun McDonald.
Speaker 1 (37:48):
Thanks to I guess and our audience.
Speaker 4 (37:51):
Visit Moneymaking Conversations dot com to listen and register to
be a guest
Him.
Speaker 2 (00:00):
Rashan McDonald I host this weekly Money Making Conversation Masterclass show.
The interviews and information that this show provides off for everyone.
It's time to start reading other people's success stories and
start living your own now. If you want to be
a guest on my show, Money Making Conversations Masterclass, please
visit our website, Moneymakingconversations dot com and click to be
(00:21):
a guest button. If you're a small business owner, entrepreneur,
motivational speaker, influencer, or nonprofit now let's get to my guests.
My guess is an Atlanta based real estate developer and
founder of Techy Homes, the innovative company behind one of
the city's most forward thinking micro community movements with more
than sixty million dollars in real estate development today. Please
(00:45):
welcome to Money Making Conversations Masterclass.
Speaker 1 (00:47):
Booker T. Washington. Hew you doing, sir, I'm doing great. Hello.
You've been living with a name like Booker T.
Speaker 3 (00:52):
Washington, Sir, Oh life, long life, loan, lifelong? I you
know story for my The name is tel aferaoh soe
in the middle of Booker Telfaril Washington born in Tuskegee,
born on the campus of Tuskeig Institute founded by Booker T.
Speaker 1 (01:07):
Washington.
Speaker 3 (01:09):
And funny fact is, my brother's name is George Washington Carver.
Speaker 1 (01:13):
I love it. I respect that. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (01:15):
So, so my mom really really set us out for historians. Yes, yep,
she was an adjunct professional tuskege and she wanted us
to try to achieve some greatness with those names.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
Now sixty million dollars to date. Yes, sir, tell us
how that started? Yes, sir, and why are you the man?
Speaker 1 (01:35):
Well, it all started with one community.
Speaker 3 (01:39):
South Park Colleges in College Park, Georgia is part of Atlanta.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
It's part of Atlanta Metro Atlanta.
Speaker 3 (01:45):
It is three minutes from the airport, fifteen minutes from
downtown Atlanta. It's synonymous for a lot of our artists, rappers,
influencers being from that area. Ludacris is from that area,
two changes from that area. Cam Newton is from that area.
So a lot of affluent people we follow the day
(02:07):
and a lot of successful people have been birthed and
come out and grown up in College Park, including myself.
So I've had an opportunity to live around a lot
of housing developments around Metro Atlanta, and we spent a
few years in College Park. That's what drove me to
come back to that community, to build this dream and
build this development. So it started with South Park Colleges,
America's first black and minority built micro home community ever.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
It's twenty nine homes on two point.
Speaker 3 (02:34):
Eight acres, beautifully nestled at the dead end of one
of the most povers, blighted, crime ridden streets you would
think of in and around Atlanta. And that community is
one that's a beacon of hope because that community sold out.
Speaker 1 (02:51):
All homes were for sale, homes.
Speaker 3 (02:53):
At an average price of one hundred and eighty thousand dollars,
and each one of those homes sold before even one
home was built. And this was after the people's buying
those homes all over the spectrum. So when we talk
about accessibility and affordability, we don't mean poor. It's not
another synonym for the word poor. So for people who
are looking to make great financial decisions about real estate,
(03:15):
either for their first time home purchase, their secondary home purchase,
or they've grown and had a lot of homes and
they want to sell the bigger home and come down
to a home that they feel fits both their affordability. Now,
affordability is relative relative, So our average home purchasing age
is forty years of age. The average income of the
(03:36):
person purchasing these homes is over eighty thousand.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
Now, let's talk about affordability and who are you targeting
with these opportunities.
Speaker 3 (03:47):
Well, we really target anyone and everyone with them, So
we're not very specific around aage or a person or
a gender. We want everyone race or race. We want
everyone to be able to find accessibility in these major
urban areas.
Speaker 1 (04:01):
Let me give you some examples.
Speaker 3 (04:03):
The average square footage of a one bedroom or two
bedroom apartment in the city of Atlanta is six hundred
and seventy five square feet believe it or not.
Speaker 1 (04:11):
And how many bedrooms is that? That's just one bedroom?
Speaker 3 (04:14):
Okay, the average two bedroom apartment now in metro Atlanta
is only eight hundred and fifty square feet. The brand
new construction apartments they build are even smaller than that. Now,
over four point two million Atlantans living apartment So when
people say, well, who's purchasing a cottage home or microhome.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
More times than not you already live in one. You
just call it an apartment, right, but you don't own it.
Speaker 3 (04:38):
So that is where we went with the dream of
building cottage homes is we wanted to provide a home
ownership model to meet you where you were at the
price point you already pay without having you change your
income bracket.
Speaker 1 (04:52):
I got you right there.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
Let's let's slow down and get more people engage who
are watching or listener. How is there a website they
can go to right down.
Speaker 3 (04:59):
The visit us at www dot tech E T E
C h I E dash homes dot com. Or they
can follow us on Instagram either at at techie homes
or they can follow me personally at at mister Booker.
Speaker 2 (05:13):
T Okay, cool, Now we get back that we got
that out. If somebody where's they have a rent or something,
here's my whole thing about book t. Let's describe that
home in that community, sir. What's the size of the
average home there.
Speaker 3 (05:28):
Average home size in our community is six hundred square feet.
They range from one bedrooms to two bedrooms. They have
open space. Everything's full size, so nothing small about your
living quarters. You got regular sized, queen size beds, king
sized beds, watch drive connections, full kitchen, sofa us the
whole nine yards. You got full patio setups, and they're
(05:48):
all nestled within a subdivision like community. So if you
think about your average subdivision where you got sidewalks, you
got front porches and neighbors walking out side visiting each other.
That's what our community set up is. We have a
connectivity of everyone being looking at each other, connected to
each other, having porches and amenities because we have vegetable guards, right,
(06:11):
we have barbecue grills, okay, within the community. Within the community,
we have a sidewalk walking path that is close to
a mile of radius. That within the community, so twenty
nine homes, two point nine acres, and we call it
the park. That's the reason why we call it South
Park Cottages because it gives you all the peace, tranquility
(06:35):
and things you assimilate with regular subdivision living.
Speaker 1 (06:39):
But you live in a.
Speaker 3 (06:41):
Metro area close to all of the urban jobs and
employment that you need to be.
Speaker 1 (06:47):
Okay cool. Now, with that being said, garages, no garages.
Share parking, okay, share parking, you mean large parking.
Speaker 3 (06:56):
Lots similar to similar to an apartment complex where there's
one big, large parking lot and all the cars parked there.
We have the same setup in our communities because we
decided on two reasons why. One, for those who own garages,
believe it or not, seventy one percent of them don't
park a car in it use this storage.
Speaker 1 (07:17):
They use it as storage.
Speaker 3 (07:19):
So instead of trying to solve covering the car from rain,
we decided to start coming up with creative ways for
storage of the things that you want to hold near
and dear to you. So that's one. The second portion
is we wanted to provide more housing availability with the
land that we have.
Speaker 1 (07:35):
Now.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
The Master's question, if you could speak to first time
home buyers, we feel locked out of the market, what
would you tell them right now?
Speaker 3 (07:44):
You're not locked You've just been stifled with a vision
of home availability that you don't know that you can get.
Because people are giving people who feel like they're locked
out of the market a product in disguising it as
that's the only thing available.
Speaker 1 (07:59):
Let me give you an example.
Speaker 3 (08:00):
Inside of Metro Atlanta, the average home medium home price,
it's four hundred and thirty seven thousand, correct. So you
would sit in an apartment and say, I can't afford
to buy anything in this city until I save up
enough to buy a four hundred and thirty seven thousand
dollar house.
Speaker 1 (08:14):
But this is the kicker.
Speaker 3 (08:15):
The people building the apartments for you to rent out
of are the same people own the lands who refuse
to build single family homes on those lands because they
know they got you trapped in renting from them.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
We know the thing that and thank you book coming
on Money Making Conversation master Class. Because I'm frustrated with
my community. And my community is the Black community. Yeah,
because we seem to be trapped into a cycle. Yes,
cycle of education, cycle of technology, cycle of living conditions. Yes,
and I want to change that. That's why you're on
(08:50):
this shelf.
Speaker 1 (08:51):
Now. I want to clearly.
Speaker 2 (08:53):
Describe there's a difference between your micro community and tiny home.
You're not building a tiny home community, no, sir.
Speaker 3 (09:01):
We build microhomes, which are homes or cottages that are
between four hundred square feet and a thousand square feet, right,
and a four hundred to a thousand square foot home
you're average. You're going to average two bedrooms and two
bath But let me.
Speaker 1 (09:13):
Tell you this.
Speaker 3 (09:14):
Your grandparents and your parents, they more times than not
lived in a microhome by definition of square footage. Because
between the sixties and seventies, the average home square footage
eight hundred and seventy five square before I grew.
Speaker 2 (09:29):
Up in a two bedroom shotgun house. Of course, my
six sisters and two brothers. I'm very much aware of
tight space, yes, and then still getting a lot of
love and that christ because I remember it was all
my brothers and sisters. We was in one room and
we only had one bath, correct, and our parents were
on the other same side.
Speaker 1 (09:49):
But they were down the hall. Correct.
Speaker 2 (09:50):
Wasn't that much down the hall? No, they were just
down the hall. So but I'm not trying to promote tightness.
I'm not trying to say anybody has to step down
when they come to your location. But I have tried
to prove with the fact that when you are contributed
to success and the build out of upput mobility and
the community correcause, what you're bringing in is you up
(10:11):
and raising the value of the land, correct, which means
that property taxes and school taxes, which means that the
school education quality goes up.
Speaker 1 (10:20):
Police the whole point talk.
Speaker 2 (10:22):
About what value you bring outside of the fact that
affordable housing brings that community, because this is not going
to be your only development, No, And.
Speaker 3 (10:31):
You bring up some great points our building of our
communities isn't about giving people a choice of something downward
or something that's different. Then it's a choice of real estate,
life cycle of upper mobility. Because just as your pain
points with the Black community, we have sunken ourselves into
an experience culture.
Speaker 1 (10:51):
Give me fun, give me experience, give me lifestyle.
Speaker 3 (10:55):
But at the same time they don't recognize that the
lifestyle is the same thing keeping them away from upper
more mobility.
Speaker 1 (11:00):
The experience is what's keeping away from up mobility.
Speaker 3 (11:03):
And that's what some of the marketplace will want to
teach you because they benefit from it. So for our communities,
these twenty nine homes not only just up the value.
We took a blighted piece of dirt at the end
of a dad end for one hundred and fifty thousand
that's how much the dirt costs, and we turned it
into six point three million dollars of real estate value,
(11:25):
and we generated one hundred and seventy five thousand dollars
on annum of tax I can buy one more fire truck,
I can employ two more teachers, I can buy I
can afford to pay two more police officers. So those
things that we complain about the most in the black community, crime, education,
lack thereof commercial food, food, deserts. All of that stuff
(11:49):
is created by rooftops, home ownership rooftops, and the more
we don't have homeownership rooftops, you're not going to have
whole foods in your neighborhood. You're not going to have publics.
You're not going to have the things that make you
well and those things that don't make you well. It's
the same thing you should be achieving for because they're
both in a related but we haven't caught up to
(12:10):
that in our psyche. We're so caught up in experience
and lifestyle that we missed the whole boat on why
your total lifestyle is a struggle.
Speaker 1 (12:18):
Then, you know, book at you watch you know, you're articulate,
you know you're smooth. You and kill them in the
same room. I'm sure black killing is not on this show.
Between you and killing Mike, I probably had to stopped out.
And that's a compliment.
Speaker 2 (12:32):
That's a compliment, but a lot of but what compliments
come they say?
Speaker 1 (12:37):
Oh, yeah, absolutely, you know, and people.
Speaker 2 (12:40):
Told you I'm gonna use the word crazy, yoh yeah,
I told you crazy.
Speaker 1 (12:44):
Going to the black neighborhood. Like you said the word blighted. Correct?
How did you overcome that, young brother?
Speaker 3 (12:50):
The only way to overcome the negativity of what it
is is to aspire to have a dream that solves
a bigger problem. If you think about anyone who's tried
to solve a bigger problem, either through policy, doctor king
through action.
Speaker 1 (13:07):
H J. Russell.
Speaker 3 (13:09):
H J. Russell, as people don't know, is the person
who built the airport.
Speaker 1 (13:13):
Of Atlanta the world. He stuttered. He was a stutterer.
He was a stutterer.
Speaker 3 (13:20):
And in collaboration and connection between Maynad Jackson, Ambassador Andrew Young,
and others, they created an ecosystem for black excellence and
black success in an area that they said, we're going
to do it here.
Speaker 1 (13:35):
We're not going to do it anywhere else. We're going
to do it right here.
Speaker 3 (13:38):
So we stood it fast to say, if we create
a catalyst, will set.
Speaker 1 (13:43):
A fire amongst everybody else. We are so.
Speaker 3 (13:48):
Taught, we're taught to follow the lead because that's what
they want you to do. But we don't set enough
catalysts within our own communities to start a revolution.
Speaker 1 (13:59):
So that is what we did.
Speaker 3 (14:01):
We said, if we can show them that it can
be done where they live, how they live.
Speaker 1 (14:05):
Guess what two things we accomplish.
Speaker 3 (14:07):
We actually decrease crime because guess what, people in the
black community actually respect where they live. They don't respect
people party and profiting from where they live, which is
why vandalism and stuff. People say, well, in the black community,
watch out, they gonna tear it down and make it
a ghetto.
Speaker 1 (14:27):
No, they actually.
Speaker 3 (14:29):
Respect the community so much that they uplift it and
keep it good. Because one thing I always knew because
I grew up in blighted communities, the one thing you
never did. You never disrespected your mama's house, or your
grandma's house or the candy lady house. Okay, you only
disrespect the different places that you can attribute any value to.
But we stop building values in these neighborhoods. So that's
(14:50):
why the black community is always thinking the black community
is where you need to move from. No, it's where
you need to build up.
Speaker 2 (14:57):
Right right, because property value is low. And again and
like we just talk, wants you up to prop the
value through new construction, homeownership, then stores come into place.
It really becomes a community that you can reinvent. Another words, Basically,
what you're doing is creating your own correct gentrification.
Speaker 1 (15:16):
We call it reverse gentrification.
Speaker 3 (15:18):
We can take you out of the same apartment you
live in and the same hood you live in, and
put you in a home ownership model in the same
community that you love without changing your income.
Speaker 1 (15:26):
Right. But zi or zip code.
Speaker 3 (15:30):
But other developers, and I'm around a lot of multimillion
dollar and billion dollar developers, they target blacked communities to
depress the value because that's the only way to make
real money.
Speaker 1 (15:42):
So you want to say, hey, money making money moves.
Speaker 3 (15:45):
These people are making money moves while you sleep because
they're intentionally depressing things.
Speaker 1 (15:49):
You don't want to buy.
Speaker 3 (15:50):
And they give you one other version of look at
it and say, well, let me get you to move over
to this neighborhood and buy this fancy apartment and live
this luxury lifestyle and take all your discretionarya and come away.
At the same time, go back into the hoods you
moved from, depress the property value, and come back around
ten years later and develop a whole new ecosystem that
prices you out, which is what's happened in East Atlanta,
(16:11):
in West Atlanta, and in North Atlanta.
Speaker 1 (16:14):
Please don't go anywhere.
Speaker 4 (16:15):
We'll be right back with more Money Making Conversations master Class.
Welcome back to Money Making Conversation Master Class with me
Rashawn McDonald cool.
Speaker 1 (16:28):
I'm talking to Booker T. Washington.
Speaker 2 (16:30):
He's in Atlanta based real estate developer and founder of
Techy Homes as tec Hie Homes, the innovative company behind
one of the city's move forward thinking micro not tainting
home micro community movements, which is he has more than
sixty million dollars in real estate development today. Now you
told me earlier to stop at the top. We said
(16:52):
with Sean, I got twenty nine home, they gone gone.
Now I'm left that brother. Come on that are you
on my show?
Speaker 3 (16:59):
They're talking about So we have plenty of more that
we've done since that twenty nine Okay, So we actually
just completed our second community, which is Union Park Cottages
located in Union City, Georgia. Twenty six homes plus a
coffee shop. It is America's first mixed use microhome and
cottage community.
Speaker 1 (17:19):
That explained to people what mix use me.
Speaker 3 (17:21):
Mixed use means in the same piece of land, same
piece of development, You've put together both residential living and
commercial development. Meaning retail commerce for the common public. Now,
because both exist in the same place, we call it
mixed use.
Speaker 1 (17:37):
But also it's a.
Speaker 3 (17:38):
Mixed use of market value and a mixed use of marketability.
So it is America's first sub one thousand square footage
home community that incorporates both mixed use and residential use.
But that's not the only special thing about that community.
That community has a technological computer lab where we teach
entrepreneurship and AI efficiencies. It is a coffee shop that
(18:03):
has ten percent ownership by the residents, So everything in
the coffee shop generates ten percent of that goes back
into the neighborhood for which those people purchased a home.
So just because you decided to purchase a two hundred
and twenty thousand dollars home in Union Park Cottages, I
just didn't make you a residential homeowner. I made you
a commercial owner.
Speaker 2 (18:23):
Does these properties these communities do have hoa's.
Speaker 3 (18:26):
They have hoa's, and so the hoa's only helped manage
that that that.
Speaker 1 (18:31):
Profitability and that movement over time.
Speaker 3 (18:34):
But because we build sustainable communities, because our communities have
solar lights in the parking lot, we use a lot
of stormwater management incentives. So our average HOA is one
hundred and eighty dollars. Now that includes your water. So
only bill you have in your house because it's all electric,
is an electric bill and internet bill.
Speaker 1 (18:52):
Eight. Look at the years, special man, I gotta slow
you down there. Where did all this come from? Brother?
Speaker 2 (18:59):
Your back, the real estate, your confidence, your education. Let's
go back a little bit before I get into the
rifle that we want to talk about your foundation, but
this confidence I am looking at, I am hearing this education.
Start with the confidence and the education first, and then
we're going to talk about the experience that qualifies you
(19:20):
to do what you say you're doing well.
Speaker 3 (19:23):
My background started, really, man, in just being impoverished and
the confidence that you can't get any lower than where
you already are. I was fortunate enough to have a
single mom who worked. She didn't have a great paying job,
but she worked, and she showed us what work did.
Work created movement, work created income, Work created the opportunity
(19:45):
to wake up another day and try it again. So
for me, when we moved out of those projects and
I became older and I got out of school, I
got out of college, I didn't have the best grades
in college. But when I got out of college, my
first few jobs were working in restaurants at Georgia Southern University.
Speaker 1 (20:04):
So when I got out.
Speaker 3 (20:05):
Of school and came back, I just said, you know what,
the only thing I know to do to make income
is work, because you know this world isn't promising me
want some trajectory. I didn't come from a family of money.
I didn't come from a family of connections. So but
as I worked, people recognized that work in me and
continue to give me opportunity and opportunity after opportunity. So
a few years later I grew into having this fabulous
(20:29):
human resource career as an executive, and I ended up
working for Tesla. I ended up working for Elon Musk
and being the head of human resources for the factory
in California.
Speaker 1 (20:42):
Ended up working for Arthur Blank family of companies, ended.
Speaker 3 (20:44):
Up working for my dream job, which is the Atlanta
Falcons and Mercedes being Stadium.
Speaker 1 (20:48):
Ended up working for the Atlanta Hawks.
Speaker 3 (20:49):
And all of that from this young black boy who
grew up on the streets of Camplton Road, and that
came from work and work ethic. Now you say where
the confidence came from is because you.
Speaker 1 (20:58):
Had to earn every everything.
Speaker 3 (21:01):
Okay, I was helping my mom pay rent at the
age of fourteen. So for me, I tell people, you
can't allow your dreams just to sit inside of you,
because they really aren't your dreams.
Speaker 1 (21:12):
There's God dreams and you're a vehicle of that vision.
Speaker 3 (21:15):
And if you don't go use your vehicle to express
the dreams and visions he's given you because you didn't
give it to yourself, then he's going to move on
from you to another blessing. And one thing I learned
when I started talking about my development hopes and dreams
when I was working for Tesla out in California. One
person at Tesla in and around our executive group. I
(21:39):
was walking around with Elon one time, and he's polarizing,
and I get that, but you know one thing that
he said that was so keen. He said, well, if
you're doing all of your dreaming and trying to work
that dream from here, then who's going to work your
dream for you? And then if you think about our community,
we're always trying to get this person in, that person
(22:00):
and this person. This person helped you out achieve your dream.
He said, well, everybody's doing that. He says, you should
never third part of your dream because it's your dream
that never understand it. So that's when I quit Corporate
America and became a full time developer.
Speaker 1 (22:13):
We've only been developing for five years.
Speaker 3 (22:15):
In five years, I've gone from having a negative bank
account to have built an organization that has more than
sixty million dollars in development. We have more than three
communities that's in the air. We've made more than fifty
five homeowners in two and a half years, and we've
taken lands that are one hundred thousand dollars and created
them into mult about millions on just one simple idea
(22:37):
getting you home ownership, however possible.
Speaker 2 (22:40):
Here two individuals that are key in this conversation. I
joked around and bro this name of Killer Mike. Yeah,
and doctor Jamal Bryant, who has been very instrumental in
the protests of Barakot basically of Target Grocery. Absolutely that
turned their point of view when they were denying DEI
correct opportunities.
Speaker 1 (22:59):
And he was leader.
Speaker 2 (23:00):
I know sometimes other people have been taking credit for that, yes,
but it's doctor Jamal Bryant based in Atlanta, Georgia. By
way of Baltimore. Yes, first more house graduate, by the
way he is. Yes, Sam, When you say those two individuals,
what roles are they playing and how instrumental is Killer Mike.
Speaker 3 (23:20):
So when we talk about both those individuals, simply but
but but Michael Randa Killer Mike, He's not just a partner,
He's a friend and he and it's not just him,
is his wife Shana Render.
Speaker 1 (23:31):
They we are family. They not only.
Speaker 3 (23:36):
Have come across to partner with me in developments, we've
invested together and we are from the same yelk in
the same communities. Mike also grew up in southwest Atlanta
and all we wanted to do is make good on
our work ethic and our ability to dream and have
a bigger, bigger visibility. And he shares that with me,
(23:56):
his wife shares that with me. So our next element,
the park at Brawley, is going to be in partnership
with him and his wife, and it's going to be
a way to bring back from some of his original
purchases in real estate, which are in blighted communities away
for him to realize that dream through working with us
at Techy Homes and working through how we want to
bring accessibility to home ownership.
Speaker 1 (24:16):
So that partnership has been huge.
Speaker 3 (24:18):
So he's going to be part of what we do
with Tekey Homes now as well.
Speaker 1 (24:21):
As Doctor Bryant.
Speaker 3 (24:23):
Doctor Brian has a Way of Baltimore has come to
lead New Birth Baptist Newbirth Church here in Atlanta, and
he's definitely fought against d I and how it has
targeted well. Target was basically taking commerce away and parting
off of our communities. So he wanted to bring that
to light. But another great way he's wanted to bring
(24:44):
it to light is to bring wealth building through home
ownership at the church on the lands for which he pastors.
Speaker 1 (24:52):
So we're gonna, in partnership.
Speaker 3 (24:54):
With other developers, build out in new Birth Village more
than one hundred sensible and affordable homes cottage homes. And
that's because we have a shared dream, a shared vision
we want to bring to deplete the wealth gap. And
he's been a great leader the steward to bring the
church not just out of pastoring and mentor and ministring,
(25:15):
but wealth building in the community, because that's one thing
the Black church has to do better. We can pastor,
we can provide hope, We can provide a God and
light to God. But God has always said faith without
works is dead. And we do a lot of non
work in some of these black communities. So he's activating
both what he says and the work. And we're also
(25:38):
going to bring home ownership to his community as well.
Speaker 2 (25:41):
Now let's talk about you are a real estate developer,
real state developer. The experienced part of that. You know
of the technical side, the building side. Let's talk about that,
and so my audists can get a clear understanding. Eloquent
and how you speak, yes, very smart, I should say articulately,
(26:04):
and how you speak very smart.
Speaker 1 (26:09):
Take us to the next step of how people come
to you and.
Speaker 2 (26:12):
Are assured that these properties that are being put out
there or something's gonna last ten years, fifteen years.
Speaker 1 (26:20):
Oh, I think also will leave for their children. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (26:22):
Absolutely, So number one thing about doing anything, it's gonna
do it with purpose and pride. So I'm a forward
leaning real estate developer. So I distinguished this in all
the ways of how real estate works. You have developers,
you have investors, you have builders, okay.
Speaker 1 (26:40):
And you have contractors. I'm a visionary of a type.
Speaker 3 (26:44):
So my vision, my vision, my strategies, my ability to
galvanize investments.
Speaker 1 (26:49):
That's what makes me.
Speaker 3 (26:50):
A real estate developer, to put together a whole vision.
That doesn't mean I build the homes, but in my vision,
we absolutely want long term value and recyclable marketable value.
Speaker 1 (27:00):
You only do that in the building quality that you do.
So our goal and.
Speaker 3 (27:04):
Innovative design in the small space is to get some
of the best contractors we can find at the best
rates in order to provide people affordability. So for example,
our communities have one hundred percent fiber sement sighting on
the outside, making it one hundred percent fire retardant, mole retardant,
water retardant, and that type of quality in a small
(27:26):
box with luxury updates as far as waterproof flooring and
ceramic polished tile. Those kinds of things is what makes
people have an uptick of pride of ownership.
Speaker 1 (27:36):
We need to bring that back as well.
Speaker 3 (27:37):
Pride of ownership the thing that make you go out
and shine that car, the thing that makes you go
out and cut that grass, and that's the type of
community set up we bring. So I do that as
a developer, but I also galvanize and bring together builders
and investors to make it all a group project, because
development is not a secular initiative, it is a group project.
Speaker 1 (27:58):
The word techi welln't even talked about tech.
Speaker 2 (28:02):
I'll be remiss if I didn't find out why the
word teching homes is tied to you? What technology are
we app controlling this house?
Speaker 1 (28:11):
Now?
Speaker 3 (28:12):
What if I told you everything about technology that you
know is human activated? And where do you spend most
of your time as a human? You spend it at home.
So our designs of our homes does incubate and tie
in smart home technologies, but it also ties in efficiency
and so some examples to that, we have palm reading,
(28:32):
fingerprint reading, hands free door openers for a lot of
our homes, and our tech packages we have self lighting
and movement lighting stairs for the elderly. Because if you
think about efficiency as a home in the darker night,
when you're trying to get to the to the bathroom,
where you're trying to get to the kitchen, do you
want to be figuring around where the light switch is?
(28:52):
You want your home. You want your home to evolve
with you. Right, you want a refrigerator that keeps stock
of your leftovers, and since you're remind us to order
more milk, order more water while you're at work, so
the efficiency of your life. A stove that turns on
at four o'clock because it knows you arrive home at
(29:14):
five point thirty, so your dinners already worn right. Those
kinds of things we put in our smart home technologies.
That's why we call it Techi Homes because we realize
your home is where you need the most tech influence
in order to make more efficiency so you can stop
struggling in life practices and start living more abundantly. So
a tagline we have at Teching Homes is life more abundantly.
Speaker 2 (29:38):
This is a national show, yes, sir Okati, And we've
been talking about Atlanta. It's to be remissed to say, hey,
some people might be mad in Philadelphia, might be mad
in Chicago might be mad, and Lost might be mad. Dallas,
might be mad Houston. But you have a national raffle, Yes, sir.
Why are the Atlanta based developer having a national raffle?
Speaker 1 (30:00):
Two things? Home ownership is a national problem.
Speaker 3 (30:07):
Is yes, based and founded here in Atlanta through me,
But we have a stretch of our organization that is
stretching out to other communities that we're planning in other
cities in those states. But our emphasis of ownership comes
from my lack thereof my mom, who passed the day
of sixty five, never owned a thing, never owned a car,
never paid off a car, never owned a home, worked
(30:29):
her entire life as an insurance broker, telling people to
have insurance, to have a backbone to their life, and
didn't have any life insurance when she passed. So those
types of settlements about my story and past, it gives
me a passion and everything we do not just to
profit from our communities, but to give back to our communities.
(30:51):
In South Park Colleges, our originating development, we did a
raffle there as well and gave a home away, free
and clear, de free and clear to a woman who
had never owned anything in her life, was a janitor
in Fulton County school systems and now has a home
worth more than two hundred and twenty five thousand dollars.
(31:12):
So our national raffle here in Union Park College is
where we're going to do it again. Is we're going
to raffle off a home for two hundred and fifty
dollars for entry U fifty thousand for a two hundred
and fifty thousand dollars.
Speaker 1 (31:26):
So maybe I misunderstood. You say two hundred and fifty dollars, Yes,
gets you a ticket? Okay? Cool? For a two hundred
and fifty dollars opportunity, yes.
Speaker 2 (31:36):
Home that you can win? Yes, okay cool Claire, they
get out apologize nowhere, what is just raffle campaign? How
do they enter?
Speaker 1 (31:44):
So?
Speaker 3 (31:45):
Our raffle campaign is about getting home ownership to everybody
who wants to get it without all the nuances of mortgages,
with all the nuances of qualifications, without all the nuances
of does I have all of my financial things in order?
Because we want to get it to whoever is deserving.
So for two hundred and fifty dollars an entry ticket,
which those proceeds going to help both foundations headed by
(32:07):
myself and Michael Render. Those foundations are gonna go to
help down payment assistance, it's gonna help on education, on
getting you into a home, It's gonna help on education,
on your credit files. Because for those people who are
trying to find home ownership, it's not because they can't,
it's just because they're missing pieces of it. So those
proceeds will go for us to fund people's down payment system,
(32:29):
because we're always relying upon the bank, relying upon the government,
relying upon our employer, relying upon the mortgage company. How
about if somebody that looks like you, talk like you,
came from where you are, he said, you know what,
I got some down payment money.
Speaker 1 (32:43):
For you too. So those what the proceeds helped for.
Speaker 3 (32:45):
But for that home, somebody is going to win them
a full outfitted home. Let me tell you the qualifications.
You have to be just twenty one years of age.
You have to be able to live in the home.
You can't sell the home for three years. Yes, thank you. Okay,
it's gonna come fully furnished. Just bring yourself. It's gonna
(33:06):
come and everything outfitted, all appliances, all furnishings, all everything.
We're paying your utilities for a year. We're paying your
taxes for a year because we want you to be
able to air this home without the stress of trying
to start up all of the requirements of being in
at home. And it's home for the holidays. So this
(33:29):
home is going to start raffle November first, but we're
going to raffle it off Christmas Eve, so on Christmas Eve.
Somebody is going to become worth more than a quarter
million dollars just because they sought our home ownership. They
had two hundred and fifty dollars and they were willing
(33:50):
to bet on themselves.
Speaker 2 (33:52):
Wow, you're hearing this story from a young man. KICKI Alabama.
Mama gave me that name. Gives us brother named George Washington.
That right, But it's the Atlanta based real estate development
founder of Techi Halls.
Speaker 1 (34:04):
All right.
Speaker 2 (34:05):
I could have used that this morning if I was
going through my bathroom at three o'clock. I use those
licens automatically coming round. So I appreciate the innovative company
behind one of the city's most forward thinking micro community movements.
One last question, the process of you mentioned during our interview. Yes,
about people living in the apartments being able to live
(34:27):
in your community. Correct, So just give people a range
of what rent they might be paying, they can allow
them to sustain a lifestyle and afford their micro community.
Speaker 3 (34:40):
We break it down inside of the metro counties of Atlanta,
and I'll take any metro area. You can take Charlotte,
you take Miami, you can take Dallas, you can take Houston.
All their average rents are about the same a one
bedroom we call class be a class A. I'm not
talking about the slum of the slum apartments. I'm talking
about a pretty much middle of the road apartment to
very nice. You're gonna pay for a one bedroom apartment
(35:01):
about seventeen hundred dollars a month. For a two bedroom apartment,
you're going to pay close to twenty one hundred dollars
a month.
Speaker 1 (35:07):
Now, that's what you pay in rent.
Speaker 3 (35:09):
You still have your regular bills, utility bills, all of
that stuff is going to add up to about four
thousand dollars a month to live in that apartment. Okay,
that's without subsidy. So to have that, you got to
have an income somewhere between sixty thousand and eighty thousand
dollars a year. Now, if that is your income base,
(35:31):
you still can't afford the regular brand new built subdivision
house because that average house is four hundred and thirty
seven thousand dollars or four hundred thousand dollars. You need
to make more than one hundred and fifty thousand dollars
yourself in order to afford to purchase that home. This
is why people say I'm choosing to rent from now
because they think that they're saving up to be able
to purchase a home one day.
Speaker 1 (35:53):
But look at the world today.
Speaker 3 (35:54):
You have employers laying off, you have the government shut down,
you have the stock market upside and down.
Speaker 1 (36:00):
The finished line is going to keep moving on you.
Speaker 3 (36:03):
So in this environment where the finished line is going
to keep moving on you, we create a home that
you can own that every penny that you put into
it will come back. So by the time the world settles,
or you get married, or you have a child, or
you get that very big job, now, instead of starting over,
your home and your piggy bank is now catapult you
(36:23):
into the next versions of your life. And that is
what our cottage communities do. Because our average mortgage for
our average two hundred and twenty thousand dollars home is
eighteen hundred dollars. Because the average age of the first
time home buyer in the city of Atlanta is thirty
seven years of age, that means by the time you
go from a working adult, which is about twenty or
twenty one to thirty seven, you've almost spent two decades
(36:46):
in paying rent. You've given away without any reputable return
close to two hundred and forty thousand dollars of cash.
Speaker 1 (36:57):
Wow. Well, I want to thank you for coming on
the show.
Speaker 3 (37:01):
Man.
Speaker 1 (37:02):
I can continue to talk with you.
Speaker 2 (37:04):
But like I said, man, you're a gifted communicator and
I respect that. I respect all my questions that you
didn't hesitate, which means that everything's based on fact.
Speaker 1 (37:14):
And the reality. Are you you want? You got doors?
You can knock on de justess case somebody say, what
are you doing? Is that?
Speaker 3 (37:20):
Come on?
Speaker 1 (37:21):
Let me show you. Yeah, that's right. Give everybody your
website again before we leaving your contact.
Speaker 3 (37:25):
Infrom absolutely again. My name is Bookt Washington founa CEO
of Techi Holmes. You can reach us at www dot tech,
E T E C h I E dash homes dot com.
Reach us on Instagram at Techi Holmes. Reach us on
Instagram my personal page at mister booker T.
Speaker 1 (37:40):
Thank you, sir for coming on Money Making Conversations Masterclass.
Speaker 2 (37:43):
Yes, sir, this has been Money Making Conversations Masterclass with
Rashaun McDonald.
Speaker 1 (37:48):
Thanks to I guess and our audience.
Speaker 4 (37:51):
Visit Moneymaking Conversations dot com to listen and register to
be a guest
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I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.