Homegrown: An Ode to Sugarbowl Sam

EPISODE 5: More than 7.9 million people were left unemployed between 2020 to 2021 due to the worldwide health outbreak of coronavirus. That left tenants without a way to pay rent, and property owners and landlords scrambling to pay the mortgage and utilities for both. In Shamontiel's fifth episode of “Homegrown: An Ode to Sugarbowl Sam,” Melvin Sims, a tenants-rights attorney I’d previously interviewed for CBS Chicago, had valuable insight on this issue. Join us as we talk about the Cook County Residential Tenant Landlord Ordinance, the national eviction moratorium linked to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, what the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has to say about tenant evictions, and how law firms like his are helping landlords and tenants. For more information on Homegrown, visit Medium.com/Homegrown.

EPISODE 3: In comedian Ray Romano’s latest comedy special “Right Here, Around the Corner,” he said as people get older, they need to have certain kinds of friends: You start off with “the kid with the car,” then the hookup guy, and eventually work your way to lawyers and doctors. In my late 30s, I want all of the above with an attorney at the top of the list. Although not intentional, I was lucky enough to get the insider scoop on real estate law from a perspective that I may never have had as a onetime client.

However, the average homebuyer may not have an attorney who she can just chit-chat with, and bounce writing and legal ideas off of. While I befriended Johnetta Paye, Esq. by accident, she would’ve been someone I wanted to hire for a business-to-client relationship regardless. So why should homebuyers keep a real estate attorney in their corner at all times? Check out my third interview on the “Homegrown: An Ode to Sugarbowl Sam” series to find out why.

Episode 2: As a first-time homebuyer, I was a handful. But Karla Thomas, managing broker of Urb & Burb, was a matchmaker for people and homes. And boy, did we have a comedic time of my search. There was the sunflower seed condo, the nightmare condo with 11 inspection problems, the 25-day wait on a homeowners association (HOA) reserve decision and the HOA with no reserves at all, the yelling match on closing day, and her teasing me about “having a crush” on the inspector. Join us for my second episode of "Homegrown: An Ode to Sugarbowl Sam." For more information on Karla Thomas, check out Shamontiel's Medium "Homegrown" publication.

But something had to give. I needed to talk to someone who knew the language and could make this process easier. A casual Google search led me to the Housing Opportunity Development Corporation (HODC) First Time Home Buyer Education program, where I met my first Homegrown: An Ode to Sugarbowl Sam podcast guest. After his three-part, two-hour workshop, even my loan officer admitted he was impressed (and a bit surprised) by our conversations after that. For more information on Christopher Meeks, check out Shamontiel's Medium "Homegrown" publication.