Real estate entrepreneur, investor, and author, Philip Michael believes real estate ownership is the key to solving the wealth gap in America. He's already helped over 10,000 people of color become first time real estate owners, and he's not slowing down anytime soon.

Philip Michael
Philip Michael Philip Michael

'Robinhood Of Real Estate' Wants To Turn $1 Investments Into $1B Of BIPOC Wealth

Real estate entrepreneur, investor, and author, Philip Michael believes real estate ownership is the key to solving the wealth gap in America. He's already helped over 10,000 people of color become first time real estate owners, and he's not slowing down anytime soon.

According to government data Black wealth will drop to $0 by 2053, highlighting a scary wealth gap that could take 200+ years to close.

The number one driver behind that?

Only 20% of Black people under the age of 35 own a home.

In fact, BIPOC home ownership is lower today than it was 50 years ago when discrimination was legal, highlighting an ever-widening wealth division between those who own.

And those who don't.

"Real estate ownership is responsible for roughly 90% of millionaire fortunes," NYCE CEO Philip Michael says. "So the key is to bring access to wealth to those who haven't had it."

Launched in 2020, NYCE is an award-winning fintech that owns, develops and operates over $500 million of active real estate projects. It then lets its community co-own in $1 pieces on its app.

Nicknamed the "Robinhood of real estate," NYCE has helped over 10,000 become first-time real estate owners with as little as $1, driving over 100% returns each year.

"NYCE's mission is to help 100,000 first-time investors become millionaires," Michael says.

"That's the key shift we want to facilitate. Moving people from consumer that makes money for others to investor building generational wealth for your family."

During the COVID lockdown, the wealthiest 10% of the US population grew their ownership to a record 89% of the stock market.

While real estate has created more millionaires than any other asset class, it's been reserved for accredited investors only, leaving opportunities behind for only 10% of the population.

Until very recently.

"NYCE is a direct response to the borderline-redlining of asset participation," says Michael. "Reverse gentrification, as we call it."

In 2020, NYCE set a record as the fastest real estate company to sell $1 million in real estate micro-ownership via the Reg. CF exemption that allows non-accredited investors to own.

A record it's broken twice since.

"There's an appetite for people to get involved with this. They just need to have a way to do it that feels safe to them," he says.

To do so, NYCE takes a model that exists and flips it on its head. Whereas the largest landlords pull from accredited investor capital, Michael and NYCE fund the construction ahead of time.

Once that stage is done, NYCE lets people invest at a low price point. And all investors receive the same rate of return as NYCE.

"$100 or $1, as long as you're an asset owner," Michael says. "The sky's the limit from there. Because it forces you to think about money differently."

Once they invest, NYCE investors receive access to a private community app, which gives live investor updates, has free courses, lessons and 1:1 portfolio training centered around money.

"The aim of the community is to combat the wealth gap by normalizing conversations around personal finance and investing," Michael says.

According to financial experts, this exact thing could make a dent.

"People never wanted to discuss money, understand it or grow it," Lawrence Gonzalez, an auditor for the U.S. Department of Treasury Office of Inspector General in Washington D.C. told Annuity.org. "There's almost a mysticism around it because not enough people understand the concepts."

A reason for that disconnect, Michael explains, is that when people of color go to banks or speak to financial advisors, they are spoken to in an elitist way that can come across as intimidating.

"There's all this needless jargon for no reason and it just becomes overwhelming," Michael says. "I always say if you can count to 10, they can earn $1 million. It's really not that complicated."

Michael arrived in New York in 2014 with $79, no network and no real estate experience. Two years later, he bought his first multifamily property, using an FHA mortgage.

This allowed him to buy it with just 3.5% down, live in one unit while renting out the rest. One year later, the property was worth over $1 million.

"It blew my mind at first," he admits. "But that's when it clicked for me that this isn't rocket science. This is what everyone else does."

Which brings it back to the widening wealth gap and the low home ownership rate.

"It's just a matter of normalizing the conversations. Which is what the TRIBE community is for," Michael says.

Something about his message seems to be resonating.

In 12 months, his following skyrocketed to over 1.2M followers on Facebook alone. Michael's Twitter has grown to nearly 200,000 since January.

The NYCE community (called the TRIBE) has 1.6M+ global members, 88% of which are outside the US, who consume NYCE content daily.

Since Jan. 1, NYCE's content has been seen over 55M times across all platforms.

Even if redlining is illegal, remnants of it still remain. Still, he's not casting blame on a system.

"It's not just a US thing or a color thing, it's bigger than that," Michael says. "I think everyone can relate to wanting to do better. At the end of the day, people just want a fair shot.

"As long as they're willing to take it. And I believe everyone deserves that much."

If you are interested in learning more about real estate ownership or if you would like to join Philip Michael on his journey to making 100,000 millionaires by 2030, you can join his TRIBE community here: wealthtribe.co.

- Black wealth is currently projected to drop to zero by 2053, and the number one reason for that is that people of color don't own, they spend.

- Accredited investors are defined as investors with a $1 million net worth or who make $200K annually.

- In BIPOC communities, basics like automatic investing, life insurance and, of course, ownership often aren't part of everyday conversations.