Courtesy of Crystal and Dedric Pollitt
We're increasingly seeing homebuying conversations surface in Black communities. Some lucky people are moving beyond talk to action. Dedrick and Crystal Pollitt, a married couple, parents, TV personalities, and real estate investors, are a great example of this. The couple stars in the A&E/Hulu series “50/50 Flip,” renovating homes for under $50,000 in under 50 days in Crystal's hometown of Burlington, North Carolina. More importantly, they're doing it in a neighborhood that's battling gentrification, which has made them local heroes.
The second season of the series, which debuted in 2022, will premiere on Feb. 7. This time, viewers will get a free guide on home flipping, the market and more. Crystal said some people don't know that the first time she flipped a home was on the national broadcast of Season 1.
“Season two has definitely improved our flipping ability and what we're capable of,” she told ESSENCE.
“This season, we're really showing people how to invest. We're digging deep into how to buy these properties with no equity of your own, or how to buy through seller financing, which is an ingenious financial strategy that most people don't know about, where the seller becomes the bank,” she added.
Crystal says viewers will also see a breakdown of their numbers, their negotiating tactics with landlords and their approach to designing the properties they find and resell.
Polites' work is crucial given that African Americans continue to lag behind when it comes to homeownership: According to the National Association of Realtors, the black homeownership rate has increased by just 0.4 percentage points over the past decade and is about 29 percentage points lower than white Americans.
In addition to discriminatory practices being an obstacle, the current economic situation does not make homeownership easier, with mortgage interest rates at their highest in years. Higher interest rates mean significantly more money to pay over the life of the loan. Rising interest rates have hurt Polite's bottom line, but they are buying less expensive properties that need renovation to keep their profit margins healthy.
The couple also points out that there are initiatives that can make homeownership a reality for some people. “There are programs where you can get down payment assistance. You can go to your local credit union or a local nonprofit. You can take a homeownership class and they might be able to help you with a down payment,” Dedrick says. FHA loans, homeownership assistance programs and programs for first-time homebuyers are some examples of initiatives people can consider.
Crystal added that through the show viewers can learn about alternative methods of financing real estate.
“Ninety-eight percent of our portfolio is purchased through creative finance,” she says, “so we didn't go to a bank and put down a 20%, 25% down payment. We didn't do anything like that. We went directly to the homeowners and said, 'Listen, we'd love to buy your property.' That's how we creatively structure it so that they become our bank. And we give them a small down payment.”
Some may want to start their homeownership journey by flipping a house, like the Polites. They say first-time flippers should focus on making low offers on properties that need repairs, getting a home inspection, creating estimates of how much it will cost to renovate the home, and focusing only on cosmetic repairs rather than structural repairs. The goal is to sell the property for more than what you spent on purchasing and renovating it. Mistakes the Polites say aspiring flippers should avoid include paying contractors in full; they advise people should only pay for the work that is completed. Other mistakes include overpaying for the home and skipping the inspection.
“Throughout season two, we learned that every home we buy has to have a home inspection before we close on it, so we know all the deficiencies for at least 90% of the items, which allows us to get ahead of the renovation process and always know what we're working on,” Dedrick says.
Those hoping to enter the housing market and become first-time homeowners can also benefit from this resale strategy: buying a cheap home and renovating it to get their first shot.
“This is called building sweat equity,” Dedrick explains. “Like Crystal said, it's about finding things that need a little bit of care — things that just need a little sprucing up, painting, carpeting, a little bit of TLC — not a full-on pillar renovation. That's how you build sweat equity in the property.”
The Politzes have proven themselves successful in flipping homes, and while being a couple has its perks, it also comes with challenges, which become clear in Season 2. Some of the challenges include knowing when to step aside as business partners to focus on their roles as parents and life partners.
“The biggest challenge is knowing when to switch from work to personal life,” Crystal says. “Knowing when to switch from CEO mode to wife mode and from CEO mode to husband mode is the biggest challenge for me because we're not only husband and wife, we're also co-CEOs.”
Thankfully, the Polites find some balance by using travel, quality time with their kids, exercise, and meditation to stay grounded, which has allowed them to thrive in their home flipping business and, most importantly, the business of love and marriage.