Mabry goes where few Realtors choose to go - the mean streets of the inner city. In fact, few lenders, developers and business owners are willing to risk their money - much less their lives in these poverty-struck communities where the homes and family are being suffocated by drug lords, gang violence and decay. She has made neighborhoods such as West Baltimore her farming ground, working to make impoverished single mothers and others into owners of clean, decent homes.

She has sought her clients in rat-infested homes with bullet-shattered windows and stopped-up commodes to help people such as Kimberly Johnson find a better home. Johnson, an office temp who barely makes above minimum wage, is like many of Mabry's customers - she can't break out of the vicious circle of low-pay, debt and poverty, despite being gainfully employed. Responsible for her mother and two children, the single mother had credit problems and no hope of finding a home to own, yet Mabry went to bat for her, helping her clean up her credit, finding the family a $47,000 row house and getting them into it for an astounding $100 down.

With no credit, no hope, and no resources, her clients often have only one person in their corner - Mabry. It is Mabry who shows them how to build and cross the bridge from living in the projects to owning a home of their own. Since most of her clients come to her with poor credit, she helps them reestablish their credit, sometimes over a period of years before they actually are able to purchase a home. Many don't have transportation, so she takes it upon herself to visit the creditors herself, work out a payment plan, or in some cases, have the debt reduced or forgiven. When it is possible, she negotiates a trade of services.

Born the second of seven children in the projects of Norfork, Virginia, Mabry was married and divorced with two children when she spent six months living in a homeless shelter. Her faith and her sales ability helped her work her way out of poverty as an office manager and a salesperson. It was years later, at the age of 43, that she decided to become a Realtor.

Mabry immediately saw the connection between her new career and the need for someone to devote time to working with low income families.

"Someone has to help these people," Mabry said to herself.

A street smart business plan

Through her own experience, Mabry already knew what the barriers to home ownership would be for many in her target market - low incomes, poor credit histories, and affordable, decent housing.

Her marketing campaign is based on giving seminars on first time home ownership to churches and community action groups, organizations that she prays will come back to her with grants to help pay for some of her customers' buying costs. She stands on street corners and passes out fliers to let residents know that they could own a home for the same money they are paying in rent. She attends neighborhood markets and competes with the street preachers for air time. Many times she will hand a flier to a child, hoping the child will take it home to his or her mother. Sometimes, the mother will call. Mabry then offers to sit down with the family and talk about their needs. Usually there are credit problems. Mabry knows it may take some time to clear them up, but she is prepared to match the mother's commitment, for as long as it takes.

Many people Mabry encounters want a better place to live, but have no idea that they could actually become home owners. Some customers, such as Vanessa Curry, a day care cook earning $9,000 a year, had been turned down by other Realtors, who believed she didn't earn enough to qualify for a home. Mabry ran the numbers, too, but she arrived at a different conclusion. She saw a woman who was willing to work to have a home of her own. Mabry spent six months searching for a home for Curry, and finally found her one for $26,500. Curry qualified for an FHA loan, and moved in.

"Most people aren't ready to buy, and sometimes it takes a couple of years for them to clean up their credit," explains Mabry. "I know what they are going through and that is why I can be patient with it. I lived in a shelter, and there was nobody to help me. I had credit problems because I didn't protect my credit, so I could tell people from experience, that I have been through the same thing. That gives them hope that there is a way out. It also gives me an in with them - they know I have been there, too and that I don't judge them."

"Few Realtors are willing to work for a commission of $750 or less to find a home for someone, especially when it could take a couple of years for them to be able to move into it," says Mabry. "But you have to start somewhere. How else are these people going to get there?"

Mabry knows that her business plan is based on long term patience. An associate of Allen Realty in Baltimore, she works exclusively from her home, often scheduling settlements at her house. If one of the principals doesn't have transportation, she will pick them up, drop off their kids, or whatever else it may take to close the sale, including fishing in her own pocket to meet some of the closing costs at times.

The power of prayer

Like many Realtors, Mabry finds that she has to first gain her clients' trust. So, she begins with the foundation of her business - her faith. The day begins with a prayer and she prays several times a day - with good reason. She knows her day is about asking the impossible. Mabry's day is often full of risks. In the simple act of picking up her customers to take them to look at homes, she has witnessed drug deals in progress and has had to run for cover in the middle of sudden shootouts Some of the homes she and her customers visit aren't fit for humans, with dangerous holes in the flooring, sagging ceilings, and pockmarked walls. From those homes, she marches her prospects away. "This is what we are going to get you away from," she tells them.

She is sometimes discouraged at the lack of affordable decent homes, but she knows that she has to keep trying. Sometimes it is difficult for her to sustain her faith. "Some of these folks, you can't even imagine, what a bad place they are in. Once things were looking so bad for one of my customers that I apologized to her and told her I'm sorry I got you into this. She said, "Don't you lose faith, Mrs. Mabry!" We prayed together, and a half hour later, we got a call that her loan had gone through."

Mabry believes the Lord helps those who help themselves and is constantly coming up with creative, innovative ways to help her customers reduce their debts. She managed to get one customer's medical bill forgiven in exchange for free home buying seminars for the hospital personnel. Another, she prayed to soften the heart of a person holding a $300 debt. He called Mabry several hours later and reduced the debt to $100.

And when all else fails, she has been known to dig in her own pocket. "I'm not going to let $100 stand between my customer and the home they want."

More Social Work Than Real Estate

On Mabry's second day as a Realtor over five years ago, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) called her office to see if anyone wanted to do a house-buying education program. As she saw how people were getting into homebuying without knowing how to protect themselves, she knew she could help.

Today, Mabry works primarily through organizations such as ACORN and Tri-Churches Housing, both organizations which help low income people to buy homes with low interest rates and low down payments.

She also works with government organizations as the Social Security Administration and the Baltimore Housing Authority. Supported by people such as Thema Mallard and Harriet Johnson, in the Housing Authority's division of family support department, Mabry gives home buying and debt reduction seminars, making herself available to answer questions and start new customers on the road to credit repair, saving money, and ultimately, home ownership.

Preparing people to buy isn't enough. They have to have something to buy, and that is where the next piece of the puzzle falls into place.

Turning Things Around

Through word of mouth and her tireless activism, Mabry has begun to have a following among lenders and developers. They are more willing to invest in low income areas because of her.

Daniel P. Henson, director of Baltimore's Department of Housing and Community Development was quoted in People magazine that "If I had a hundred like her, we could turn this city around."

Attracting rehabilitative developers to areas where homes have to shown boarded to prevent salvage raids by burglers is not easy. One developer, Paul Bryant of Baldwin Development Corporation, who has rehabilitated 100 units of "row houses," has taken the leap of faith with Maby.

Lenders have also come to believe in Mabry and her clients' commitments to having a home of their own. Deborah McIver, assistant vice president and Bel Air branch manager of Columbia National Mortgage Corporation often handles Mabry's clients for loans and goes to extra lengths to push them through. Like Mabry, McIver doesn't push for quick closings, she works with Mabry's clients patiently, encouraging them to pay off debts and helping them to find ways to cut down on spending.

The pay off is slow for all involved, but for these committed individuals, the rewards are great.

Dealing with unexpected fame

Fame certainly wasn't what Mabry was seeking when she decided to make finding homes for low income families her life's work. But after being profiled in an article by Charles Cohen in the Baltimore Sun and featured in the December 7th issue of People Magazine as the "Agent of Hope," she may well have to get used to the spotlight.

"I don't want the attention for myself, but if it means that we can help more people get into homes they can own, then I am all for it," says Mabry.

She is hoping that the publicity she receives will result in grants to help people with buying costs. Says Mabry, "There are too many who need help."

Mabry also hopes that people will read her story and take a different attitude about business and prayer.

"People don't want to pray in business, but that is what works for me," insists Mabry. "I am not exceptional in any way - I just take more time with my customers. The miracle is what the Lord does to make these wonderful things happen. "

Published: December 15, 1998

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