To black homeowners,
Take over, and throw that lease out!
- Nas “Legit”
Hey (aspiring) homeowner or condo association member,
For well over a decade, Shamontiel’s grandfather kept trying to convince her to buy a home. Shamontiel wasn’t sure where she wanted her permanent home to be and opted out, renting continuously and living in three states. However, co-writing a real estate blog for a law firm made her start paying more attention to property owners.
After that yearlong project, she briefly dated a basketball player. Sometimes it takes your peers saying the same thing that your elders did for it to click. She paid attention to how he had disposable income after playing overseas and buying an apartment to rent out. Just like that, the importance of ownership was locked in.
A few months later, she invested in a real estate crowdfunding program and simultaneously bought a condominium. Two years after that, she was nominated as the 2020–21 condo association president and 2021–22 condo board treasurer. From legal to personal to volunteer work, the entire experience taught her a massive amount of information about the real estate industry — with plenty of hiccups along the way.
“Homegrown Tales” (formerly “Homegrown” on Medium) was initially created as a place for first-time homeowners and new condo board members to connect. Slowly, it expanded to writing monthly posts about her real-life experiences with property owners, landlords, contractors, property managers, tenants and the latest in real estate news. As the former Editor-in-Chief of Go4Rent Magazine, you can also find her landlord and renter posts here.
Why Substack?
I’ve written numerous online and print series since 2006. Some were with mainstream newspapers. Others were pretty well-known and lesser-known online news and lifestyle publications. Business decisions on my end were made, and I’m rebuilding. When I made the decision to start transitioning to Substack mid-2022, I knew I was losing a few thousand followers. Some have found me again on here, and I appreciate it. Whether I’m brand new to you or we’re reuniting again, let’s chat!
Amazon Affiliate
As an Amazon affiliate, I earn a percentage from purchases with my referral links. I know some consumers are choosing to boycott Amazon for its diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) removal, and I don’t blame you one bit. I have zero love for Target, but that happened long before the worst possible choice for president returned to the White House. However, after thinking about this thoroughly, I have chosen to continue on while trying my absolute best to promote small businesses, women-owned businesses and black-owned businesses who still feature their items on Amazon.
You’ll still see links on my post from ads I already agreed to showcase pre-presidential results that are not from any of these three groups. All of my posts as of February 1, 2025, the first day of Black History Month, will feature a minimum of one product from a black-owned business though. I have verified all websites and founders even after seeing that Amazon stamp above to confirm the owners. But if you are boycotting anti-DEI companies regardless, I respect that all the same.
SUBSCRIBE ($5 P/MONTH, $50 P/YR)
Check out monthly homeownership and real estate news posts, and join the community to leave feedback for myself and other homeowners.
FOUNDER’S PRICE ($80 P/YR)
You’ll have full access to read and comment on all five publications:
“Black Girl In a Doggone World™” (one per week)
“Homegrown Tales” (one per month)
“I Do See Color” (one per week)
includes “BlackTechLogy” (one per month)
“One Black Woman’s Vote” (one per week)
“Window Shopping” (one per month)
Join Shamontiel on each Substack social media account:
