Stop Letting the State Take Grandma’s House: Diahnna Curtis on Black Wealth, Trusts & Homeownership

There’s a reason Black wealth is projected to hit near-zero for too many families. Realtor leader Diahnna Curtis (President, Akron Realtist) breaks down how our homes are lost to probate, Medicaid estate recovery, and bad planning—and exactly how to protect them.

What you’ll learn

Why approvals ≠ closings: the hidden drop-off for minority buyers

The wealth math of homeownership (leverage, stability, legacy)

Probate vs. Trusts vs. Survivorship deeds — which keeps the house in the family

How Medicaid’s 5-year lookback can claw back the home—and what to do before crisis

Practical help: grants for inspection/appraisal, scholarships into real estate careers, and vetted pros

Ever wonder why so many approved buyers still lose their homes days before closing? We unpack that frustrating cliff edge and connect it to a bigger mission: building minority wealth through sustainable homeownership, smarter financing, and estate planning that actually protects families. Our guest, Diahnna Curtis—president of the Akron Realtist Association and a seasoned realtor—brings the blend of creativity, grit, and practical know‑how that turns raw circumstances into stable futures.

We start with the personal: how divorce and tight budgets can spark the creativity to DIY, save, and learn the real estate game from the studs. From there, we go wide—examining the minority homeownership gap, why women are carrying more approvals than men, and what the SHIBA report reveals about a troubling wealth forecast. Diahnna explains the late‑stage hurdles that derail closings, including appraisal gaps, thin reserves for surprise costs, and underwriting shifts that punish buyers with limited credit histories. Together, we propose tangible fixes: scholarships to bring more minorities into real estate careers, funds that cover inspections and appraisals, and a community network of lenders, appraisers, and inspectors committed to fair outcomes.

Then we double down on wealth preservation. Too many elders lose homes to Medicaid’s five‑year lookback or see properties trapped in probate for a year while taxes and repairs pile up. We walk through practical tools—living trusts, transfer on death and survivorship deeds—and the hard but necessary family conversations that assign responsibilities early and keep property in the bloodline. Diahnna shares the emotional reality of selling a parent’s home and how to balance memories with stewardship, so care decisions and financial decisions serve both dignity and long‑term stability.

If you care about generational wealth, neighborhood health, and giving kids a foundation stronger than circumstance, this conversation is your field guide. Subscribe, share with someone planning to buy or protect a family home, and leave a review with your biggest question about closing the deal or setting up a trust—we’ll tackle it in a future episode.

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Episode Transcript

Barbara L Parker (00:00):
Welcome to Powerfully Broken Podcast, where
we break unhealthyrelationships that negatively
impact our mental health.
Today I have with me DeannaCurtis, who is the president of
the Akron Roses and a realtor,as well as the queen of
creativity.
She is able to see somethingraw and make it beautiful.
She helped with like, I mean,creating literally something out

(00:25):
of nothing.
We made my entire weddingbeautiful because of all the
things that she did.
And, you know, you have beenjust an amazing friend and just
to everyone.
You're just like the world'sbest filter.

Intro/Outro (00:50):
Powerfully broken, but never defeated.
Well, we let you know.
When the storm rolling, yourspirit is low, heart still
heavy, and you're moving slow,tears on your face.

Barbara L Parker (01:07):
So with you having these daughters that
aren't afraid of hard work andbeing creative just like you,
that they learned because therewas that it was kind of birth
out of necessity, if you will,where you did it because you had
to.
If it hadn't been alreadybought and done, you would have

(01:27):
just slid in there and not builtthose skills.
But because you went from beingmarried to being divorced, that
changed your income.
And as you started to growthrough the real estate
industry, you start to know somesocial and some economic
inequities in that.
So tell me a little bit aboutthat.

Diahnna Curtis (01:57):
Um that is our passion, um, building minority
wealth through homeownership.
Um wanting our community tothrive, our communities, wanting
minorities to be able to affordhomes, because it lends to

(02:24):
financial stability.
So oftentimes people canleverage their homes to help
their children, write somethingto pass down to your children.
So we are we're actuallydeclining in homeownership or as

(02:48):
compared to our counterparts.
They are purchasing homes at agreater rate than we are.
So there's that struggle,right?
So there's there's the strugglefor financial for for financing
for their homes, and a lot ofminorities are getting to the
endpoint and not closing thedeal, right?

(03:08):
They've been approved, they'rethey are um they're a day or two
away from signing their closeto close on their property and
they're not closing.
So we're still trying toresearch why that's occurring,
but minority women are nowapplying and being approved more

(03:33):
than minority men, which isstill kind of disturbing because
they should be our center ofour household.
And we had strived so long forthat to occur.
And they are, I mean, outsideof God, we know God's first,
right?
So, but we are losing that withour minority men, and then

(03:54):
minority couples are buyinghomes less than minority women.
So we know that minority womenare becoming more educated, more
of them are going to college.
So that's probably why some ofthat disparity is happening.
But um we do the SHIBA report,which is the state of housing in

(04:14):
Black America every year.
And so it talks about thosenumbers and what's happening
with minorities.
So there's a prediction that in25 to 50 years, minority wealth
would be zero.
There are going to be some thatare going to be worth a lot,
but there's going to be a wholelot of minorities who have
nothing.
So we would like to see thatchange because it affects the

(04:39):
family.
It affects the same as my girlslearn some things, some
sustainability, some creativityfrom me by my home ownership.
There's so many kids that aregoing to lose that.
And then what's going to happenwith the rest of the
generation?
So our goal is to provide themeans for more minorities to be

(05:06):
able to afford homes.
We have a scholarship programthat we're doing now to help we
would like to help someonebecome a sales agent or be in
the real estate industry and getlicensed through one of the
colleges, uh, Hond Rose orsomething like that.
And then we also have nowintroduced helping someone be

(05:29):
able to pay for a homeinspection when they're in the
process of buying a home or payfor their appraiser.
So um we're seeing a lot ofblighted neighborhoods.
And so we want to see thatchange.
We're seeing a lot of elderlypeople who um are losing their
homes to Medicaid.

(05:49):
There's an overwhelming amountof things that need to be fixed,
right?
Yeah.
So we are seeing a lot ofminorities lose their homes as
they get older to Medicaid,Medicare, Medicare, Medicaid,
Medicaid, because basically youhave to be, you have to have

(06:12):
nothing to get assistance.
So we want to educate moreminority families on how to put
homes in trust, give them a taxone attorney to help them set
trust up so that those homes canbe passed down to their
children, because that is theirwealth.
That is your kids' education,college.

(06:35):
That is, yeah.
So yeah.

Barbara L Parker (06:38):
So having some of those different wealth
protection things where you candeed the house over in lieu of
um when someone passes.
So it bypasses probate.
So you're not then paying taxeson a house that you may not
even be able to afford, and nowyou have to lose because now you

(06:58):
don't have the wealth to evenprotect it.
Absolutely.
So, like putting these thingsin trust, whether you know, you
have those conversations withfamily early, so they know uh
Bob is getting the car, Jen isgetting the house, and Kevin's
keeping the dog, you know,having those conversations

(07:21):
early, because that in and ofitself, when nobody knows
anything and there's no plan,now you have family not only
grieving, but now they'repulling at all the things that
remind them of you.

Diahnna Curtis (07:33):
Yes.

Barbara L Parker (07:34):
And it's just heartbreaking.

Diahnna Curtis (07:36):
Probate court is a year.
Yeah.
So I've I've dealt with thefamily or families who have had
to go to probate court.
And I have to tell them, well,you have to go to probate court
because it didn't deed over.
Yes.
So they didn't have a deed todo that.
And then, like you said,there's also that um those taxes
that apply because you weregifted this house.

(07:57):
So now you have to pay a highertax rate on getting that house.
So by putting it in a trust,you avoid a lot of those taxes.

Barbara L Parker (08:05):
Or even a survivorship deed.

Diahnna Curtis (08:08):
Survivorship sheet deeds, yes, puts it
directly to that person.
Um, so our best advice is totell people to connect them with
someone that's that's what theydo.
Because we as real estateagents, we're just we're not
proficient in that, but we cancertainly connect someone to

(08:30):
those resources.

Barbara L Parker (08:32):
Yeah.

Diahnna Curtis (08:32):
Um, but it's just a shame.
And even having dealt with itwith my own, because a lot of
elderly people, yeah, you can'ttell them anything.
That that's that's been aproperty they purchased.
They grew up in poverty, right?
And so now they have someproperty and trying to explain
to them, mom, dad, can you putthis in a trust?

(08:53):
Let's work through this.
Um, they don't trust it.

Barbara L Parker (08:56):
Yeah.

Diahnna Curtis (08:57):
So um Medicaid has a five-year look back.
We haven't transferred it outof their name in five years.
They want it.
So um for us, my daughter said,Well, you know, Nana, Nana

(09:17):
bought this house and we're justgonna sell it or get rid of it.
And they wanted to keep it.
I said, Well, the problem is,is you have to get a parent to
understand that in enough timethat you can save the house for
the family, that kind of thing.
So it worked out for us that weleveraged it to um be able to
put her, uh, have her someplacewhere she's uh a really nice

(09:42):
place.
So we just took it and and usedit to get her somewhere else.
Right.

Barbara L Parker (09:47):
Because it was a barrier to her chair for a
while.

Diahnna Curtis (09:50):
Yes, yes.
Yeah, and the house was too bigfor her still, and she couldn't
manage it on her own.
So now it put her in a saferenvironment where she still
feels like she has herindependence.
But it it was a lot of stresstrying to figure that out and
sell it.
And I thought it would be easyto sell my mom's house.

(10:11):
That was one of the hardestthings I ever had to do, even
making those decisions regardingit, because you're trying to
not stay emotionally attached toit.
And at the same time, I lookI'm walking in there, and that's
a house I used to go into andexpect that smile on her face.
And it's it's a hard thing todo.
So I love helping people whoare managing that kind of

(10:34):
situation because I understandit too.
So um, but yeah, but so I'mhere for women.
I think that is a major thingum to step out, especially when
we have kids and try to managehome ownership.
I'm here for it.
I've done it.

(10:55):
So I encourage it.
I think kids do better for it.

Barbara L Parker (11:02):
And where can they find more information or
reach out and get in touch withyou?

Diahnna Curtis (11:07):
Um, they can get in touch with me.
Do I get uh um Deanna Curtis?
Uh so even if they Google myname, they should come up with
my um Century 21 website.
They come up with my phonenumber.
I don't know if we posted, do Igive my phone number?
330-7155650.

(11:28):
I am also again president ofthe Akron Realtist Association.
So if you look up AkronRealtist Association, you will
also be able to Google ourwebsite, and there's information
on agents, um, appraisers,everyone.
So our organization consists ofpeople in the industry, so it's

(11:49):
lenders, um, appraisers, um,home inspectors.
So you can be a member even ifyou're just in the community, as
long as you want to supportwhat we are driving to achieve
in our community.

Barbara L Parker (12:02):
So all right, and I have one last question for
you.
What does powerful broking meanto you?

Diahnna Curtis (12:09):
What does powerful?
Oh my gosh, it seems so much.
Um, and probably because I seemso much of that energy.
Sometimes you have to break torealize your power and how much
of it you have.
And then you come out of it onthe other end, so powerful, but
it was my brokenness that got methere.
It's sort of that um fromashes, right?

(12:33):
The best of me comes and I'mpowerful behind it.
So it was a good break.
It's a good brokenness.

Barbara L Parker (12:44):
Thank you.
I appreciate your honesty, yourvulnerability, all your wealth
of knowledge about being arealtor, being creative.
Um thank you.

Diahnna Curtis (12:56):
Thank you.
Thank you for having me.
Thank you for being aphenomenal writing the book,
inspiring women.
I mean, I just think it'samazing.

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(13:28):
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Airing every Friday at 9 a.m.,Powerfully Broken empowers you
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impact your mental health.

Intro/Outro (13:42):
Powerfully broken, but never to be.