CRUSADER LISA NGUYEN

May is Asian American Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) Heritage Month. In celebration, we sat down with remarkable REALTOR® and AANHPI advocate Lisa Nguyen.

Well known and highly admired, Lisa Nguyen is currently serving as the President of the Greater Denver Chapter of the Asian Real Estate Association of America (AREAA), Vice Chair for the National AREAA Affordable Housing Task Force, Chair for the Denver Metro Association of REALTORS® (DMAR) Diversity Alliance Committee, and sits on the DMAR Board of Directors.

She was also recently named a Crusader by RISMedia in its 2023 list of “Newsmakers”. According to RISMedia, the sixth annual list “spotlights some of the industry’s most dynamic individuals for their accomplishments and contributions to their companies, colleagues and clients, and to the larger cause of expanding homeownership.”

Lisa calls herself an open book, and freely shares her story and her passion for advocating for her community, hoping that she can encourage other minority women to embrace their sto - ries and be advocates for their communities. “Someone once said that a true leader is only as good as their successors,” shared Lisa.

A second generation American, her family’s story and pursuit of the American Dream inspired her career in real estate.

“My dad was a spy for the Americans in the Vietnam War. After his entire squad was killed, he ran home, grabbed my mom, grabbed a bag of rice, put my sister on his back, and ran through a field praying to God they wouldn’t get murdered,” shared Lisa. “Once my family made it to the United States, they were considered ‘those boat people’ who came over in 1975, fleeing for their lives.” The family landed in North Carolina where they had sponsors, eventually making it to Denver, where they found a better sense of community and where Lisa was born.

Their new life in America was not easy. With only $20 in their pockets, the family moved into housing projects at 12th and Osage. Through hard work, determination, and saving every penny, they were eventually able to achieve homeownership.

“It’s why I'm so passionate about it to this day. For a lot of communities, especially for many refugees, people coming from other countries, and underserved communities, the idea of home ownership is forever changing generations,” said Lisa. “Building generational wealth is so powerful, and I don’t think people realize how significant it is. When we’re helping people into homes, it’s impacting the family for generations to come. That is why this work is so important.”

Advocacy Pillars: Language Access, Alternative Credit, Appraisal Equity, Discrimination, Fair Housing

Lisa is a dedicated advocate on many fronts, focusing on solutions to language access issues, alternative credit, appraisal equity, and shining the light on discrimination in real estate. Her efforts to help underserved communities has taken her to Capitol Hill in Denver and DC, testifying and doing whatever she can to shine the spotlight on the communities she’s dedicated to serve.

“Language access is very important because we can talk about the importance of homeownership and generational wealth all day long but if it's not in a language where people understand it, our efforts to educate these communities isn’t making the impact that it should,” said Lisa. “That is why a lot of home ownership rates within the different minority communities are less, and drastically less in some cases.”

Lisa is proud of the work she and her colleagues with AREAA have done on behalf of many underserved communities. Up until 2016, a check box for the AANHPI community did not exist on the United States Census. AREAA lobbied for this change, and with that checkbox came actual data about the Asian community and homeownership. “We found that we have some of the highest levels of income, yet our levels of homeownership are still lower than our Caucasian counterparts. There are gaps in the system, and one of them is lending practices, which is why AREAA pushed through language access. Now, when you go to do a loan application, they’ll ask what language you speak. Whether it’s Vietnamese, Korean, or Spanish,” shared Lisa.

Another issue Lisa helped to lobby for was alternative credit. “That was another thing that was really huge,” recalled

Lisa. “It didn't just affect the Asian community; it impacted all communities. When someone is coming from another country and they're trying to buy a house, they don't have credit, not in a traditional sense. We worked to get the Senate to look at alternative credit sources like rental payments and cell phone bills, whereas before those type of alternative credit resources weren’t accessible,”she said.

When we spoke with Lisa, she was preparing to hop on a flight to DC where she and her colleagues at AREAA were focusing on discussions around appraisal equity. She explained appraisal equity in two parts; discrimination within the appraisal process on behalf of minority homeowners, but also discrimination within the process to become an appraiser. She points out the lack of diversity within the profession itself, explaining that the process to become an appraiser is inherently discriminatory. “How would any minority be successful in becoming an appraiser when they have to serve under another appraiser for 1,800 hours if they are unable to find someone who will take them under their wing?” asked Lisa.

Another topic of discussion in DC is state-level foreign policy, and a law recently passed in Florida that restricts the ability of foreign nationals from China, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Russia, Syria, and Venezuela to purchase real estate. According to Lisa, this idea is now a topic of discussion in 30 different states. “On a National level, the Asian community is being attacked in what I can only describe as a blatant violation of Fair Housing,” said Lisa. “What we’re deathly scared of right now is that the whole Asian community is going to be discriminated against, and that American citizens of Asian descent are now going to have to prove their citizenship prior to purchasing a home.”

Lisa is passionate about educating the community about this new issue, and as she talks to people, she realizes that it’s the first time a lot of people are hearing about it. “I'm just trying to even get the word out about it because this is the first time a lot of people are even hearing about it. There's a lot of discrimination that's taking place and people are not talking about it. I have to constantly bring light to it,” said Lisa. “All I can do is make people aware, so that when this idea comes to Colorado, everyone knows what this is and how dangerous it is.”

DEI Efforts and Diversity Alliance

On the Association level, Lisa is proud of the groundbreaking work done by DMAR’s Diversity Alliance Committee, and the adoption of DEI efforts across the state and the nation.

“With the Diversity Alliance Committee, in the beginning there were only six or seven of us and now we’re a big committee and people want to be involved. And now there are DEI groups all over the state and nation, and it all started with an idea,” said Lisa.

One thing the committee has been successful in doing is making small but impactful changes to the governance structure of the association. The committee lobbied for, and was successful in getting, a Board of Director’s seat for each of the diverse groups on the DMAR Board of Directors. Those diverse groups include Asian Real Estate Association of America (AREAA), National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals (NAHREP), National Association of Real Estate Brokers (NAREB), and the LGBTQ+ Alliance. One of Lisa’s initiatives as the Chair of the 2023 DMAR Diversity Alliance Committee is to create a “roadmap” for other associations to follow that includes processes, systems, governance struc- ture, and mission statements. “I get phone calls from associations all over the country asking us how we did it,” says Lisa.

By continuing to talk about DEI efforts and discriminatory practices in real estate, Lisa knows that more REALTORS® will want to help. “There are so many people who have been so gracious, and they may not have been discriminated against, but they don’t like what’s going on and want to know what they can do to help.”

When it comes to being involved at your local, state, and national associations, Lisa says that getting involved is the right thing to do. “What I have learned through the whole process of starting this DEI initiative is there is strength in numbers, and when we came together is when we were able to make a difference. I could not have done it alone, I had to depend on alliances with NAREB, NAHREP and the LGBTQ+ Alliance, and they had to depend on me, too,” said Lisa.

Lisa finds that people want to step up and they want to be involved, but they’re intimidated by the process. “People will say, ‘I don’t know how to be on a Board, I don’t know how to be President, Vice President, or Treasurer’. I’m here to tell you, neither did I!” said Lisa. “You just have to take the first step and say, ‘I want to do it’ and you know, people are very gracious and kind, and associations will teach you how to be a leader."

The work has been difficult, but worth it

“The work on the way has been very difficult. There's been a lot of uncomfortable conversations, things said about me, and people judging my character because I'm standing up for what I believe in,” recalled Lisa.

Despite the challenges, Lisa said she’s starting to see a lot of good, positive impact come from the work she and other DEI advocates have done. “I’m seeing that light at the end of the tunnel, and it has resurrected me and given me hope and faith that it was all worth it. I’m seeing the work come to fruition and it has been so rewarding to change hearts and minds.”

When asked what ONE thing she wanted to implore on all 29,000 Colorado REALTORS®, Lisa said, “Be kind to your fellow REALTORS®. Be kind to new agents. We all had to start from somewhere, and we weren’t always successful, and we all made mistakes. Across the board, there are a lot of people suffering. Be kind in your interactions with one another and if you run across a new agent, take the time to mentor them.”

When asked what she wants people to take away from Asian American Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Heritage (AANHPI) Month, Lisa said, “One narrative the media has pushed out is that all Asians are rich, and that is not actually the case. There are plenty of underserved AANHPI community, some of which are refugees coming from other countries. It’s something I want everyone to be mindful of. The AANHPI community, just like other communities, has its fair share of challenges.”

But Lisa also wants everyone to enjoy the culture, the food, and the rich history. With the appreciation for the AANHPI community’s rich history, Lisa was proud to end our discussion with an exciting announcement. Thanks to the hard work by community advocates, the Lunar New Year will almost certainly become an observed holiday in Colorado. Lunar New Year is celebrated across southeast Asian communities and is the most important and most festive holiday of the year. “We’re just waiting for Governor Polis to sign the bill into law. It is so exciting so see,” said Lisa.