Bree Jones rolls deep. Her nonprofit real estate firm, Parity Homes, has a buyers’ collective of 60 households. They have all gone through a proprietary 6-month curriculum Jones built from scratch, covering everything from financial planning to maintenance, community building, and the history of redlining — and how those factors continue to shape the Baltimore neighborhood where they all want to buy homes.
“It’s about building an intentional, mission-driven community,” Jones says. “We talk about common principles — anti-gentrification, the importance of shared cultural assets, green space assets, things that aren’t part of our common dialogue in America anymore. Older generations did it in the 1940s-50s-60s.”
Jones says her buyers’ collective members have all come through word of mouth so far. She talks about her work everywhere she goes — like volunteering with a local church where a pastor’s family is now part of her collective. Some are from the area of West Baltimore where Parity Homes is focusing its work; others are originally from the area but moved out when they were teens and now want to move back.
Parity Homes keeps an architect on retainer to help buyers select one of six floor plans for Baltimore’s signature rowhouses. Options include splitting the home into a two-flat, to create some extra income for the homeowner and another affordable housing unit. Three buyers’ collective members have made their selection, and Jones hopes to deliver their homes later this year, hopefully by July.
Written by: Oscar Perry Abello
