Mortgage 101 – Pride in Homeownership

Clinton Wilkins, and Todd Veinotte invite Blair Patterson of Clinton Wilkins Mortgage Team to discuss some important things to note for the queer community when achieving homeownership, including affordability and safety.

Todd Veinotte
All right Mortgage 101, your guide to homeownership with Clinton Wilkins and myself Todd!

We’ve got a guest!

Clinton Wilkins
We have Blair who works here in my office!

Todd Veinotte
Does Blair have a last name?

Clinton Wilkins
He does have a last name.

Blair Patterson
Blair Patterson with Clinton Wilkins Mortgage team.

Todd Veinotte
Oh, there you go. Blair Patterson. Welcome to Mortgage 101. What’s it like to work for Clinton Blair? I want you to be honest, pretend he’s not here. Let’s say you and I are having a chat.

What’s Clinton really like?

Blair Patterson
Every day is extremely busy. Clinton is the life of the party. And what you see is what you get.

Clinton Wilkins
That was good feedback. That was right off the cuff too.

Todd Veinotte
How did you get into the industry Blair?

Blair Patterson
I’ve always been curious about mortgage origination and I was in the Navy before I made the switch. And now I’m working with Clinton.

Todd Veinotte
That’s quite a transition.

Blair Patterson
But it’s been very helpful. Just because we have so many Navy population here that I’m able to help the community a lot.

Todd Veinotte
For sure.

Clinton Wilkins
A huge DND population here in Halifax between Navy and really the Air Force. I always say 10% of our clients are in the military. And I mean, there’s so many good programs out there now.

Todd Veinotte
Why did you want to have Blair in today?

Clinton Wilkins
Well, today it’s July and July is one of our favorite times of the year. It is pride in homeownership! Pride is happening here just in a couple of days. And we’re excited. This is the very first time our office is going in the parade, which I think is awesome. The parade is the 20th, it’s Saturday the 20th and for those of you who have seen us driving, our Bronco around, we have a branded Bronco, a Clinton Wilkins Mortgage team Bronco, Amanda drives that around. We actually dolled the Bronco up in pride decling. We have made it really beautiful for the parade. And everyone from the office and a few of our friends and family are going to be walking in the parade, which I think is going to be really, really awesome. There was really no parade last year and pride really didn’t happen. So we’re excited to participate. We participated in lots of pride activities over the years. We’ve done a homeownership workshop out on the terrace at 5151. George, we’ve done workshops online, and during COVID. I think Todd, you hosted one we did. We did a pride livestream as well. And I think it’s just so important. You know, one thing about pride is, especially in Halifax, and I mean, across the country, homeownership is challenging. I think it’s very challenging for people in the queer community as well. And this was an issue before the housing crunch happened. I think people struggle with identity and a safe place to live. And you know, affordability, and I think homeownership in the community is very low compared to where it would be in the hetero normative community.

Todd Veinotte
Why do you think that is?

Clinton Wilkins
I think for a variety of reasons. I don’t know Blair, what do you think?

Todd Veinotte
What’s your thoughts on this?

Blair Patterson
I don’t know. I think when you’re part of a marginalized part of society, it can be difficult to want to participate and with the price of everything. You know, it’s just difficult to get into homeownership and you have to look for alternatives.

Todd Veinotte
As far as you having lived experience with this. Is this something that people can relate to? Do you think that helps some of your clients?

Blair Patterson
Yeah, absolutely, when someone comes to us they can feel comfortable, being with us, using the right pronouns, and you know, getting the advice that they deserve.

Todd Veinotte
Yeah. Do you run across anybody ever who is is is difficult at all, in a way that you would feel is not appropriate? When it comes to one on one doing business?

Blair Patterson
I’ve never had that experience. Halifax is a very inclusive spot. And as the population grows even more so. But, I know that that attitude can be out there. So it’s important that if I ever did have that, I wouldn’t want to work with that client.

Todd Veinotte
Clinton what about you? I mean, you know, you’re a brash guy, you’re out there, you take a lot of chances. You’re an entrepreneur, I got a lot of respect for you.

Clinton Wilkins
I’ve received some hate. I’ve been on the national news. And, you know, I’ve had people send me nasty grams. You know, for me, I have very thick skin. It doesn’t bother me, I do not feel myself that I’m marginalized. But, you know, it’s still not okay. And we’ve so far to go. And I think, yes, Halifax is very inclusive. And Nova Scotia I think, is very progressive compared to other areas of the country, North America, etc. But we’re still not there yet. And, you know, I hear new stories, there was one recently of, a certain politician. Things happen and we think that we’ve made it so far and that we don’t need Pride anymore, and that queer people are just so accepted. But we’re not really there. And I think specifically in the housing space, it’s challenging. You know, I’ve been doing this for 19 years. And I remember the days where underwriters would write me if we had two men on a file, or two women on a file, or if we didn’t have the pronouns correctly in our underwriting platform, and they would come back and ask very specific questions. Questions like, what’s the relationship between these two? Well, they’re lovers like, what more do you need to know if we have the credit, we have the income, we have the assets, why does the relationship really matter? And, you know, we’ve talked about this before, where, in some cases, they think married people are safer credit risk than two people that are single. It’s them thinking, maybe marriage is stickier. But you know what? 60% of marriages end in divorce anyway, it doesn’t matter. If it’s a queer marriage or heterosexual marriage, it’s the same type of situation. And, you know, things have certainly moved a long way. I’m not getting these questions anymore. But let me tell you, there was a lot of pushback in the early days, and I’m talking like, 152-20 years ago. I think it is a lot better now. But it’s still not 100%.

Todd Veinotte
Yeah. Blair you mentioned you had a navy background? What years during the Navy?

Blair Patterson
2013 to 2016.

Todd Veinotte
Okay, 2013-2016. What was the atmosphere? What was the culture like in the Navy? At that time?

Blair Patterson
It certainly changed a lot from when I first joined. But it is a very difficult environment.

Todd Veinotte
I would think, kind of a macho environment. So when you talk to your clients who are from the military, are you finding that the culture is changing?

Blair Patterson
When I was leaving, the culture was be yourself, grow your hair longer, piercings were allowed. And just more open. So things are changing, for sure.

Todd Veinotte
Absolutely. And it’s interesting, because how does change happen? It happens incrementally. Nothing happens overnight. And I have been doing the show now for five, six years. And I would think that us having this dialogue, and doing this on the airwaves, on City News, 95 7, and being online and all of that, that helps move the needle, I would think.

Clinton Wilkins
I think so I think we’ve broken down some barriers over the time. And I’m glad we’re talking about things like this. You know, we were talking with our producer before we started the show. And, I think queer people in general were living on the peninsula. And, we were talking about, where is the hot place to live? Like, where is it cool, where is it going to be safe? And where is it going to be an affordable and secure place for people to live? And I don’t have the answer. I think it’s challenging. I think in the old days, maybe not that long ago, on the peninsula was the place to be, you know, in the North End and the Hydrostone area, but that has just become so unaffordable for so many people. I think community is in a lot of different places. I think that there’s a really good queer community in New Glasgow, Nova Scotia, believe it or not, and that’s a way outside Halifax. You’re not having access, to resources and all those things. And I think community has really changed over the years. And I think that in a lot of ways, queer people have had to integrate into this heteronormative lifestyle.

Todd Veinotte
Okay what else would you like to get to ?

Clinton Wilkins
I think we will talk more about pride, you know July is all about pride and homeownership and we’ll be back!