Get the Knowledge You Need to Succeed in the Real Estate Industry

Omicelo Cares Real Estate Co-Powerment Series has been extremely impactful to many people who have taken the course. Meleak Potter, a 2018 graduate of the course, experienced this firsthand.

After taking the Real Estate Co-Powerment Series, Potter now owns multiple million-dollar properties, three businesses, and three personal real estate investments.

Potter allocates a lot of this success to the confidence he gained from Omicelo Cares Real Estate Co-Powerment Series. Let’s take a look at how Omicelo Cares and Potter achieved success together:

Further Developing Potter’s Real Estate Knowledge

The Real Estate Co-Powerment Series is an in-depth and comprehensive course that educates anyone in the community on how the real estate industry works and how their community can be improved by it. 

As a title insurance and settlement professional, Potter took this course to expand his overall real estate knowledge and become an investor. Even with his background in title insurance and settlement, he said that he gained a lot from the course, including:

  • Overall comprehension of real estate
  • Insight into being a homeowner
  • Help and insight in navigating the industry
  • Resources to reference in the future
  • Connections within the area
  • Developing partnerships with others

Overall, Potter was delighted with the education and resources he received through the Real Estate Co-Powerment Series, which he continues to use today as he further develops his real estate career, now owning multiple properties and businesses. 

Acquiring Million Dollar Properties and Beginning Non-Profits

Potter, a local to Homewood, discovered the Real Estate Co-Powerment Series from a recommendation within his community. As a continual learner, he had been on the search for more courses and programs to take to round out his knowledge. 

Potter owns three businesses: Pittsburgh Minority Real Estate Group (PMRG), Acres and Heirs, and Realty Thinking. Potter has seen how his education through Omicelo Cares has directly impacted all three of his businesses and his personal residential investments. 

Pittsburgh Minority Real Estate Group (PMRG)

PMRG, a title insurance and settlement business that Potter began in 2016, helps people with the last part of their real estate translation, handling their paperwork, and transferring funds. With Potter’s interest in real estate, he wanted to expand his capabilities to more than closing.

While PMRG does not invest in property, Omicelo Cares still positively impacted PMRG. Potter now had a fuller understanding of the industry players, helping him network and grow PMRG. After taking the Real Estate Co-Powerment Series, Potter said that he could navigate the industry better when working with his business.

He is now confident “to take on whatever comes his way” due to his ability to deal with tax credits, pro formas, and budgets. In addition, this confidence has helped him to be more inquisitive when researching the industry. 

Acres and Heirs

Potter’s mother, Gloria Potter, began Acres and Heirs, a development company, in 2018, where Potter works alongside his mother.

Since taking the Real Estate Co-Powerment Series, Acres and Heirs has acquired multiple million-dollar properties within Hampton, NY; Miami, FL; and Kansas City, MO.

Potter credits his confidence when handling his properties, whether through Acres and Heirs or his personal investments, to the education he gained through Omicelo Cares. He explained that his confidence was built through adequate education in the real estate market, understanding property value, and understanding how to work correctly with pro formas. 

“With Acres and Heirs,” Potter said, “the properties can be quite intimidating just being million dollar properties and having 60 residentials around one of the development properties. It made it a lot easier to be confident when I was talking about bringing different resources that maybe even the partners might not have thought of.” 

In Kansas City, they are currently working to develop a multi-faceted development, including an old armory building and residential homes surrounding that. 

In total, through Acre and Heirs, he owns three properties that are valued at more than one million dollars, and he said that his education with Omicelo Cares has helped him to keep up with these million-dollar meetings. 

Personal Real Estate Investment

Additionally, he owns three residential properties: one he inherited in 2019, another he purchased in 2021, and his personal residence, which he purchased in May of 2022. He is currently renovating one property and looking to rent out the other. 

“Omicelo Cares helped a lot with the confidence in dealing with these properties,” Potter said, referring to all the properties he works with across his many endeavors. 

Realty Thinking

Finally, Potter’s third business is a non-profit called Realty Thinking, which has a similar mission to Omicelo Cares. Realty Thinking was largely impacted by the overall mission of Omicelo Cares:

To CO-POWER existing community members in low- to moderate-income neighborhoods to own financial assets, grow their businesses, and lift their incomes.

“Working with Omicelo Cares helped guide me into different things,” Potter said. “And I also started a non-profit of my own [that is] real estate based.”

Realty Thinking, which began in 2019, strives to find other ways to support the community and Omicelo Cares’ mission of real estate education. They offer courses covering workforce development, trade institute, landlord education, technology advancement, basic principles of construction, and architectural design. 

Omicelo Cares Impacting Many Facets of His Life

The education that Potter received from Omicelo Cares extended and continues to extend far beyond simply real estate investment. It helped to build his confidence in various areas of his career, enabling him to begin another business and acquire million-dollar properties. Through these things, Potter has also been able to impact his community by offering webinars, conferences, and non-profit courses. 

“PMRG led me into seeing a lot of ways to deal with real estate, and it left some questions, and Omicelo Cares came in to help fill those gaps.”

Learn how you can change your career path and impact your community here.

Building Wealth Through Real Estate in Less Than 50 Days

At Omicelo Cares, each course offered centers on building wealth. Adia Effiong, a graduate of Omicelo Cares’ 2020 Real Estate Co-Powerment Series, greatly appreciated how clear the organization was about the benefits of building wealth, which, like many other real estate investors, was a significant reason she embarked on her real estate endeavor. 

Omicelo Cares focused Effiong’s investor eye through education. The Real Estate Co-Powerment Series taught Effiong what to look for as a developer and investor, such as property and school taxes, as well as the distance to resources in the community, like parks and the bus line. Additionally, she learned how to see a deal and calculate after-renovation value. 

While all change begins with having the proper view, or “investor eye,” seeing must be paired with doing. Omicelo Cares fully equips their students to be ready to tackle issues and achieve their goals immediately upon graduation from their course. 

Project Ready in 49 Days

This 7-week course aims to have all students project ready by the program’s end by educating them on how to identify and address areas of improvement within their communities. Effiong did exactly that … 

“I put an earnest deposit down the day of our graduation.”

And it worked.

With her education from Omicelo Cares, Effiong was project ready on the day of graduation. The course helped her look for and secure funding, form a business plan, and have the confidence she needed to take the next step: purchasing her second property, a single-family home in Braddock.

“It really gave me the confidence to know how it is done in an equitable and just way,” Effiong said. “By doing it on a small scale, I’ve learned the ins and outs of the process.”

Building Wealth Through Confidence

Effiong founded Ascend Entities in April of 2019, based on her “desire to provide more affordable housing” in an economy that doesn’t naturally provide affordable housing.

“I was interested in multi-family property management,” Effiong said, expanding on why she became a real estate investor. 

Her first real estate investment was in a duplex in Swissvale, which encouraged her to learn more about real estate and led her to Omicelo Cares. She was referred to Omicelo Cares by a friend who had already experienced the program, and Effiong wanted to decide between two of their courses: the Real Estate Co-Powerment Series and the Landlord Experience. She chose the Real Estate Co-Powerment Series, which impacted her so significantly that she plans to take the Landlord Experience soon.

After her education from the Real Estate Co-Powerment Series gave her “all the confidence and the knowledge in the world,” Effiong purchased her second property. 

The course far exceeded Effiong’s expectations: “My expectations were to understand how community members can get involved in development and not leave it to all the gentrifiers in California.” 

While she did find the answers to her questions, she learned so much more because of being surrounded by knowledgeable experts, from presenters and speakers to fellow participants. 

She is currently renovating her property in Braddock, which will be available to rent in January. Her goal for 2023 is to obtain a property in Pittsburgh and take the Omicelo Cares Landlord Experience course. 

Dive Deeper Into Real Estate Investment

If you are looking for ways to grow your business, increase your income, or own financial assets, Omicelo Cares has the resources you need. Learn how our Real Estate Co-Powerment Series will help you build wealth through real estate investment. Contact us today to get involved.

All About Pennsylvania Real Estate Continuing Education

Omicelo Cares Offers Pennsylvania Residents an In-Depth Course on Real Estate Development

Did you know that the average community member can make a big difference in the well-being and future of their neighborhood? 

Real estate investing offers many opportunities to improve the vitality of your community. There are many ways to learn about real estate investing — online resources, college courses, or even by doing some research on your own. Better yet, you can sign up for Omicelo Cares’ “Real Estate Co-Powerment Series” here in Pennsylvania. 

Getting started in real estate investing is easier than you may think with the proper guidance and education. By revitalizing your community through real estate investment, you can create lasting positive effects for you, your neighbors, and the small businesses in your area.

Pennsylvania Real Estate Continuing Education

Real estate investing is one of the best ways for community members to revitalize their neighborhoods. With Pennsylvania real estate continuing education, you can help turn around parts of town that are in decline and make them more vibrant and sustainable. 

Based in Pittsburgh, Omicelo Cares offers continuing education courses on real estate investing, which can help you learn about the different types of real estate investments and how to make them work for you. Our Real Estate Co-Powerment Series covers practical topics such as:

• The fundamentals of real estate

• Proforma development

• Transactional law

• Financial training

• Tax credits

• Community engagement

• Zoning

• And much more 

Through Pennsylvania real estate continuing education, people can learn to invest in real estate and discover new ways to make their communities stronger. By working with an experienced advisor like Omicelo Cares, even beginners can learn how to put together an investment portfolio that will benefit both you and the community as a whole.

Investing in real estate is a great way to improve the quality of life for everyone in your community. It creates jobs and economic growth, puts more money in your bank account, and brings communities together — making everyone better off.

The Benefits of the Real Estate Co-Powerment Series

The Real Estate Co-Powerment Series is a seven-week education platform designed to demystify the real estate development process. With Pennsylvania real estate continuing education, residents can take an active role in revitalizing their communities in real and lasting ways. 

Through the series, residents will learn about the real estate development process and how they can invest in it to create positive change. Every participant will walk away with the following: 

An Understanding of the Connection Between Homes and Wealth

The series is a unique opportunity for Pennsylvania residents to gain the knowledge and skills they need to improve their communities. Top applicants will be able to develop a real-life real estate project during the course for deeper learning and experience.

The Confidence to Make Smart Decisions

The series will provide residents with the tools they need to make informed decisions about investing in real estate and promote transparency in the development process. 

Concrete Steps for Rebuilding Neighborhoods

By taking part in the Real Estate Co-Powerment Series, participants can discover how to play a key role in revitalizing their communities and making them better places to live, work, and raise families.

Instruction, Coaching, and Mentorship

Community members, organizational leaders, and small business owners can take advantage of the support of Omicelo and our partners during and after the course. Students have access to their instructors during the course and have options for staying in contact after the course is complete.

Build Wealth and Improve Your Neighborhood’s Quality of Life

Real estate investing is a proven way to build wealth through residential and/or commercial real estate. In addition to providing you with an income stream, real estate can also help you increase your home or business’s value and provide you with tax benefits.

It is also a good way to give back to your community by creating jobs and improving the quality of life for residents. By investing in real estate, you can help stimulate the local economy and spark new opportunities for growth in your area.

Sign up to be notified when applications open for Omicelo Cares’ Real Estate Co-Powerment Series today. Classes meet on Tuesday and Thursday evenings for seven weeks.

Sign Up

Equipped to Better Her Community Via Real Estate Educators

Equipped to Better Her Community Via Real Estate Educators

Lisa Freeman’s first interaction with Omicelo Cares was through their partner, Neighborhood Allies. Together these two organizations created the Real Estate Co-powerment Series, a program that would steer Freeman to unique education and $475,000 for her farm and greenhouse in the Manchester section of Pittsburgh. 

Freeman, the owner of Freeman Family Farm and Greenhouse and a graduate of the Real Estate Co-powerment Series, said that the education she received through Omicelo Cares helped her succeed because it was an essential part of her foundation. 

“[Freeman Family Farm and Greenhouse has] grown because [Omicelo Cares is] part of my foundation,” she said. “It will always be.”

The course helped her develop a plan in the visionary stage of her business by gaining a fundamental understanding of the ins and outs of how developers work. 

Freeman took Omicelo Cares’ Real Estate Co-powerment Series with two intentions:

  1. To obtain a more in-depth understanding of real estate.
  2. To further understand gentrification and if it could somehow be good for her community.

While her education in community organizing gave her what she calls a “peripheral view” of real estate, it didn’t entirely give her the expansive knowledge developers have. And that’s what she was looking for. 

“Omicelo Cares was the forefront in helping me understand real estate, and now I understand who the players are and how [I] can be the player,” Freeman said. 

Through this course, she gained the foundation, knowledge, and courage she needed to build on her property and purchase more land. She is currently in the process of buying various properties with vacant homes with the intention of renovating them for better use and building back up that specific block, one property at a time.

A Driving Desire to Care for Her Community

With two master’s degrees — one in social work and one in public administration — Freeman has a clear desire to impact her community. As a matter of fact, her major focus was on community organizing and community building. And this motivation to improve her neighborhood is seen clearly throughout all her work experience.

Her first initiative upon moving to Pittsburgh was the formation of a school community garden. It was created to teach kids compassion and how to care and nurture for something other than themselves when they live in such a violent world. “The garden was meant to grow people,” Freeman said.

Out of this initiative came the birth of her business: Freeman Family Farm and Greenhouse. Located in the historic district of Manchester, Freeman Family Farm and Greenhouse strives to bring together the community by bridging ethnic, gender, or age gaps.

Growth, Nurture, and Impact

“We are all the same when we are playing in the dirt,” Freeman said.

Freeman Family Farms intends to help people because a farmer’s primary purpose is to ensure that their community is fed and cared for. “We grow for the marginal residents, the medically vulnerable residents, and the elderly.”

Freeman’s farm does not operate as a typical business; instead, they grow and give away through free marketplaces hosted by the Greater Pittsburgh Community Foodbank.

More than growing food for the community, Freeman Family Farms and Greenhouse also offers individuals a safe space. These people can come to the farm and rest and meditate, turning off all the voices in their heads, while they help with farm tasks such as weeding. 

“You can hear the birds, the crickets, the bees, the smells, the sights, and it’s just you and me,” she said. “And if there’s something you want to share or something I can offer you, a resource, then that’s what we do.”

Omicelo Cares helped Freeman expand her farm in numerous ways. Three years after graduation, she is now able to begin building greengrocers. The farm has received $300,000 in assistance from the USDA that will be able to support Freeman Family Farm and its mission. They have also received $175,000 to assist in building a greengrocer farmers market for the community.

Since taking the course, Freeman has received funding from USDA, The Food Trust, the PA Department of Agriculture, the Alleghany County Health Department, and others.

Omicelo Cares Real Estate Educators Growing You

Freeman emphasized that the class is for anyone who wants to learn more about real estate and make a change in their community.

“It was a broad range of people who participated,” she said. Participants can be individuals like herself or from housing agencies, the government, the CDC, or anywhere else. Registration is open to everyone.

“Anybody in their community who wants to make a change can be the change, and Omicelo Cares gave me the skills to know how to be that changemaker,” she said.Learn more about Omicelo Cares’ Real Estate Co-powerment series and how you can make a change for the better in your community.

A Different Approach to Real Estate

A Different Approach to Real Estate

In 2017, Tenika Chavis signed up for what she expected to be just another real estate training. With few expectations, she thought she might make a connection and, once again, talk about the basics of real estate investing. 

She recalls going to these series of sessions, thinking, “I shouldn’t take up space in something like this that’s meant for the community.” She felt her real estate knowledge was already “adequate,” not realizing the impact this series would have on her and her community.

Before taking Omicelo Cares’ Real Estate Co-powerment Series, cocreated by Neighborhood Allies, Chavis worked in property and project management and as an advisor for other real estate investors. Prior to her education with Omicelo Cares, Chavis, like most real estate professionals, was taught to buy cheap, negotiate low, and do as few repairs as possible to create the largest market value and purchase price gap possible. 

But during this series, she learned that this form of real estate investment was affecting her neighborhood’s demographics and causing displacement in her community. 

“It opened my eyes,” Chavis expressed. “I was part of the problem and that bothered me, learning that the median income in the area is $45,000 and hasn’t changed in almost 25 years but the prices of real estate have accelerated.” 

This knowledge propelled Chavis into her journey of learning how to be part of the solution. 

Improving Neighborhoods by Finding Real Estate Solutions 

Chavis left the Real Estate Co-powerment Series fully prepared to change how real estate was affecting her community. She became a real estate investor and changed her approach to real estate, ensuring a win-win situation for both the investor and buyer. 

“It changed the way that I approach real estate now because I will actually try to work with the family to give them what they need,” Chavis said. “Some families need monthly payments, some of them need a lump sum, some just want to get rid of the property because it’s a problem. I spend more time getting to know the family and what they need.”

She approaches the situation aware of the profit she needs to make, the median income in the area, and varying places she can take money from for rehab and repair. 

“I’ve found different ways to profit rather than just charging market-rate rent and overpricing each property,” Chavis explained. 

Expanding Her Real Estate Impact 

Five years later, Chavis has her own real estate business and construction company:

“My business in real estate improves my community because I can empathize with the end user,” Chavis said. “I have a different perspective than a corporate investor or an investor from another part of town. I feel that I can relate better to the circumstances on the ground in the area which make me a better owner and a better resource to the community.”

Before the series, she owned one property; since then, she has owned seven at one time. She also works with other private investors and asset-based lenders.

Additionally, she has become a trainer with Omicelo Cares for the Real Estate Co-powerment Series and, through this, has had the opportunity to share her real estate journey and help others build beneficial connections. She also speaks at other events about being a woman in construction and real estate.

“[The program] has made me more confident as a real estate professional because I have access to other services and professionals that I didn’t even know existed before,” Chavis said.

Real Estate Co-powerment Series

This program is a 7-week series that demystifies the real estate development process, demonstrating how community members can get involved in real estate. 

“It provides a good baseline of knowledge for putting things together,” Chavis said. “You get a great start to getting into real estate and a lot of connections.”

This program is excellent for:

  • Community-based organization staff
  • Property owners
  • Small business owners
  • Active community members 
  • Those interested in learning the real estate investment process

Learn more about our Real Estate Co-powerment Series and begin your journey of strengthening your community through real estate education.