The Wheeltor’s Journey: Black Entrepreneurship & Accessibility in Real Estate

In honor of African American Awareness Month, Accessibility is Home proudly welcomes a powerhouse in real estate—Lamont McLeod, a multi-million-dollar real estate broker, wheelchair user, and the visionary behind The Wheeltor brand. As a Black entrepreneur navigating both the real estate industry and the world as a quadriplegic, Lamont’s journey is one of resilience, innovation, and advocacy.

In this episode, host Angela Fox and Lamont discuss the systemic barriers to accessible homeownership, particularly for the disability community. Lamont shares his personal story of pivoting from accounting to real estate, and how he redefined his career after a life-changing accident. They explore the stark realities of accessible housing, from the financial burden of home modifications to the lack of universally designed properties in the market. Lamont also dives into his work with United Spinal Association and his advocacy for better policies supporting wheelchair users and accessible home development.

This episode is essential listening for DEIA professionals, realtors, and housing developers looking to understand the intersection of race, disability, and economic empowerment in homeownership. Lamont’s story is a testament to the power of perseverance and the urgent need for inclusion in real estate.

🎧 Listen now to hear how The Wheeltor is revolutionizing the industry and advocating for a more accessible future.

Transcript, click here. 

Cush Pocket, a proud sponsor, is a disabled owned company that sells wheelchair bags. Get $1 off by using code Angela Fox 

Chapters

• 0:00 Accessible Housing Challenges and Solutions
• 10:54 Universal Design in Housing Development
• 24:31 Breaking Barriers
• 31:28 Realtor Overcomes Disability, Achieves Success

Transcript

Angela Fox : 0:00

Welcome to AI Home Podcast, the first podcast for real estate resources and independent living strategies for the disability community. Why? Because accessibility is home. Hi, I'm Angela Fox, blogger, author and your host. Now let's begin. Okay, thank you everybody. Again, this is Angela Fox. I am sitting in my accessible bathroom because at HorizontalHousescom, we know accessibility to a home goes beyond the bathroom. So I want to thank you, the listeners, for joining me today, and I have a fabulous guest, lamin. Would you like to say hi and introduce yourself?

Lamont McLeod: 0:44

have a fabulous guest Lamin, would you like to say hi and introduce yourself. Hello family, my wheel family. My name is Lamont McCloud and I call myself the Wilter.

Angela Fox : 0:55

I love that name.

Lamont McLeod: 0:57

I am a real estate broker who utilizes a power wheelchair.

Angela Fox : 1:02

Great, I'm going to call you the Wilter and not by your first name, because I think that's just a perfect what we call.

Angela Fox : 1:09

Just really forward thinking I've really played that in the front and for those of you who will be joined by my new YouTube channel, I want and we might be visually impaired. I want to quickly describe myself. I am a middle-aged woman, white woman with brown hair. I'm wearing a fabulous, different color, purple dress with a purple jacket on, I got my headphones and speaker. Like I said, I'm in my accessible bathroom and I have my favorite pen that I always wear that says keep calm and wheel on and wheel. Would you like to describe yourself visually for those who might not be able to visually see us?

Lamont McLeod: 1:50

Absolutely. I am a 5'10" dark-skinned male with a full beard and I just left the barbershop, so my haircut looks amazing.

Angela Fox : 2:03

And you're wearing an orange shirt.

Lamont McLeod: 2:05

Yes, I'm wearing an orange polo button down three buttons to be exact, and it's not official unless you have the top button button.

Angela Fox : 2:14

All right, okay, good tip, good tip. I love it. I love it. Realtor, I know that we met. I always like to tell people how we met, because if you're new to the disability community or you're a real estate agent or a housing developer and you want to connect to 25% of the population, I always like to say how I connect with some of my friends who are members of the disability community and I do use first-person language. Feel free if you have different languages, that's certainly acceptable as well. But, realtor, we met I think it was on the. I have a lot of Facebook groups and I think it was the United Spinal Injury Association.

Lamont McLeod: 3:02

Yeah, so what?

Angela Fox : 3:04

Yeah, it's a great organization. They have a USA chapter, a USA Facebook and an international one. I just participated in the role on Capitol Hill about four weeks ago, where we advocated for wheelchair preventive wheelchair maintenance.

Angela Fox : 3:24

So that was one of the big things. And that happens every year with different topics, and so I always looking out for guests. But in this particular time I saw you posting something within that group and you were speaking about housing. Would you like to talk about that, because I think that's a great way to kind of segue on what you do and why I want you to talk to my audience.

Lamont McLeod: 3:49

I am very excited and very passionate about this very topic and the event that I spoke at was Accessible Bodies bodies and I was very excited for this opportunity because I've spoken on so many different platforms, but I was always just an added addition to whatever the initial topic was. So in this particular segment, it was all about accessible home, it was all about access to accessible homes, it was about funding for accessible homes and the three panelists all three had limitations. I'm a quadriplegic. The gentleman to my immediate left, he was a para, and the other gentleman I forget what his limitation was, but all three had limitations. So we had three different vantage points that we were able to speak on and our direct impact on housing. So it was a their front door.

Angela Fox : 5:19

That is absolutely so true about accessible housing that came up that you want to highlight with the audience, because I'm sure I will have your information on the show notes and there will be a blog so they can go to that particular video that you posted on the Facebook group and I was like you want to be on my podcast, but was there anything specific that was focused or something you want to highlight that was said?

Lamont McLeod: 5:47

Yes, actually, the focal point was the lack of housing.

Angela Fox : 5:51

Okay.

Lamont McLeod: 5:52

That's available and the amount of money that you have to spend. If you buy a home that's already built, then you have to go back and you have to modify that property so you can live in it. So that was really the focal point lack of accessible housing and the expense that it takes to take a home and make it suit your day-to-day quality of life.

Angela Fox : 6:16

And I like how you said make it your home. And the reason why I want to pick up on that is I did watch a video and so there was a part when you said that when you travel and you go to hotels and I always I talk a lot about hotels as far as accessibility, because it's really probably the most platform that people have some kind of experience with accessibility as far as shelter goes, and so I talk a lot about it, and you did as well. And you said when I go and visit a hotel I think it was a hotel you could say I can always tell that able-bodied person designed it. Do you want to talk a little bit more about that and now have a follow-up?

Lamont McLeod: 7:02

Yes, Actually, I'm going to say exactly what I said in that meeting. I said I'm always at war with the hospitality community, and reason being is hotels will say ADA accessible. But what is ADA accessible on paper versus reality is they will have grab bars in the bathroom and they'll have a rolling shower. But when you enter into the room and the bed frame is bolted to the floor, if you're quadriplegic and you don't have the upper body strength to transfer easily into a bed, what do you do? So more often than not, I have to fall in bed.

Angela Fox : 7:44

Yeah, yeah, and I really appreciate that kind of you have to fall into it, because it really gives that kind of visualization that it's not really it's there. You could get to the bed. But yeah, you do have to fall. For me, I sit a little, so sometimes I have to like almost climb into the bed if it's too tall. But I want to follow up, like what you said at the speaking event. You were talking about things you will have to do to make it a home, and I think that is something that is sometimes missing in that, when you're talking about accessibility, it can be based on more of a shelter and rather than a home, and I would love your perspective on that as a realtor.

Lamont McLeod: 8:34

And the interesting point to that is, like I said, I'm not sure the price point of the area that you reside in, the DC area, of the area that you reside in the DC area, but here in Georgia, especially in the Metro Atlanta area, your median house price point is around $400,000 now and that's on the lower end.

Lamont McLeod: 8:55

So think about having to purchase a house at $400,000. And then you have to get that home modified to make it your home, to make it accessible to you. Then you're looking at another hundred thousand plus to make that home accessible. So that that is my issue with homes architects, contractors, realtors just to say, hey, if there are a certain amount of lots that are available for the disability community, then you could just build those home, build them out the soup, because it's more than wheelchairs. You have hearing impaired, you have visually impaired. There are so many limitations that are out there that I don't want a home to just be accessible to me. I want there to be a certain amount of lots that can be completely built out to build that individual's need.

Angela Fox : 9:54

And will you have Talk us through about those kind of conversations? When you're talking to a housing developer, what kind of pitch do you make and how successful have you been and what things have been a challenge?

Lamont McLeod: 10:23

welcoming and inviting, but I don't see the change. So, to me, if you're excited about something and it moves you, then why not start the initiative to figure out how we can remedy the situation and not put it to such a high price point? Because, as you and I know, anything that's considered accessible comes with such a high price tag that is really out of reach for so many individuals. I'm going to go ahead.

Angela Fox : 10:43

I'm sorry. Yeah, You're talking about if somebody was are you talking about doing a custom built house? Is that kind of what we're talking about? Or we're talking about a house already built and then you have to modify it?

Lamont McLeod: 11:00

Not necessarily a custom build because, again, anytime you say the word custom, that comes with a certain price point. I'm saying in a community where if there's 160 lots, 10 of those lots will be set aside for an individual that has some type of limitation. So the home is already pre-built but the interior is still good. So now you can go in from that point and you can make their home whatever you need Wheelchair, accessible, hearing, visual or whatever. Again, your limitation is, but it's already budgeted into the budget to where you're not starting at $500 and now going to $800.

Angela Fox : 11:39

Are you requesting the housing developers have a universal design layout?

Lamont McLeod: 11:45

Of course, the universal design is exactly what I'm speaking of. So, just like you go into a community and they pull out a booklet and they say would you like elevation A, B, C or D? I would love those same elevations but catered to the disability community.

Angela Fox : 12:00

Yeah.

Lamont McLeod: 12:00

Because we love nice things. We want our home. We want it to be proud of. We don't want too big of our home as a hospital.

Angela Fox : 12:09

Yeah.

Lamont McLeod: 12:09

We have to live there, so we want to be excited about going home at the end of our day and we don't again want it to look like a hospital or we're dreading to go home. So, yes, I would love those different elevations offered to us, and then you can finish the build out and it is no additional cost because everything can be put in a budget.

Angela Fox : 12:30

And you said that they get excited by the conversation. So there's a perspective that you believe that they're invested, but then you leave and then there's not a particular change. Have you had any opportunity to follow up with some of the housing developers where you've had that exciting conversation, or do they only give you space for one discussion?

Lamont McLeod: 12:58

We always have the initial at the speaking engagement and it's always amazing that so many walk approach me. Oh, yes, I think this is an amazing initiative. Oh, I would love to figure out ways that I can help you on the movement and I reach out to them. I'll get an email response back Then. If I go to reach out again, then I start to see where I'm not getting the response back Then.

Angela Fox : 13:21

I start to see where I'm not getting the response back. Okay, it gives you a quick little canned speech. Have you had any success with, or are you knowledgeable of, housing developers that have embraced having layouts that are universally designed, that are available?

Lamont McLeod: 15:12

Now I won't say that it's not here in the state of Georgia, but I haven't seen it yet. I have access to what we call the multiple listing service and that's access to any property that's available for sale in the market in the state of Georgia. So let me just give you round numbers. If I pull up the database now, I could show you where there are probably 90 plus thousand homes that are available. But if I click on one button and say it's accessible, I will get under 20 homes that fall under that bracket when there are 90,000 plus available. It should not be like that.

Angela Fox : 15:49

And that's pretty common. I've done similar tests. It's a little bit better in Florida and a little bit better in some parts of California, but that's a very familiar ratio. He's from the area in other states. So let me ask you do you think it could be a possible solution if it was a universally designed layouts were given to these housing developers that they could actually implement themselves? Do you think that is a possible solution, that there's just a mere fact that they don't have, because there's all kinds of books out there that actually have very crude layouts that are universally designed? Do you think that's just a lack of education in providing that particular layout, or do you think there's additional tools that need to be provided to housing developers to get them on board?

Lamont McLeod: 16:43

Twofold, I feel like. First, it's about the dollar. I feel like they don't feel that the homes will sell. I feel like they think that these are the type of homes they don't feel that the homes will sell.

Lamont McLeod: 17:03

I feel like they think that these are the type of homes that will last to sell, or they will have to finish out the deal and sell it to a traditional family. So everything is about the bottom dollar. The second part of that, I think it starts with legislation. If the right politician or the right person in government heard this and it was near and dear to their heart, I think the conversation would change because, honestly, what I would love to happen is for the disability community to have access to funding and loan products, like the veteran community.

Angela Fox : 17:31

Yeah, if you read my book, I have a book called my Blue Front Door.

Lamont McLeod: 17:36

It's on horizontalhousescom.

Angela Fox : 17:38

It's also on Amazon as well. And I talk about my own experience being a paraplegic and buying my home in the DC area and making it accessible by specifically talking about resources in the state of Maryland. So I'm very lucky that the state of Maryland is very disability home ownership forward meaning. Maryland is one of the few states that have a home loan program for people with disabilities.

Lamont McLeod: 18:08

Oh, they're really.

Angela Fox : 18:09

Yeah, it's not hard. So some for those who may be in the real estate who is estate? Who is another realtor I'm going to play on that If you give me that liberty and those who might be familiar with the 203k, which is like the rehab loan from the HUD agency. Almost all states rely on that to provide opportunities for individuals to buy a house and to get a loan for more vacation. State of Maryland has a state-specific loan program. It's for people with disabilities and it's great because they work with banks to try to get you the lowest interest rates. They only have so many banks that they work with because it's a cap on the interest rate that if you want the state to back up the loan, your interest rate has to be within this range, and so the state of Maryland has that. The state of Maryland also has an assisted technology loan program, which is also a separate loan for modifications. So you could get that and I was actually on the board for four years because what ended up happening was I didn't have any equity in the house that I just bought and I made a pitch, a legal argument, that those who have physical disabilities will be more likely to have to buy a new home because most likely the house they're in is too costly to modify and so that means you got to get a brand new home right.

Angela Fox : 19:52

And that means what? You don't have equity in the home that you just bought. And so I got them to change the rules to allow a unsecured loan for home modifications. And then I was asked to be on the board. So I served on the board for four years so there was those two particular programs. And then somebody had talked about legislation to kind of piggyback because I find out to get a legal beagle on everybody, but I am a lawyer Not giving legal advice here.

Angela Fox : 20:23

But a lot of individuals don't realize that the Americans with Disabilities Act does not apply for private sector housing and the Fair Housing Act, which is actually an amendment of the Civil Rights Act. It's not a separate act, even though we call it the FHA, and the Fair Housing Act does not only focus on four units or more. So if you're talking housing developer, a single family unit, nothing federally-wide is required for anything to be accessible unless it takes federal funds to build that house. So the ADA doesn't apply in a lot of real estate but in a particular county in Maryland, the Prince George's County, and to give you a little framework of where that is in Maryland, that is where the National Harbor and the MTM Casino is located at it's in that same county that same county and starting in 2026, 50% of all new housing has to be universally designed.

Angela Fox : 21:36

Really, that is phenomenal, yep. So I have another episode about that, and so it is possible. It was a long time thing. Within the county, there was a big advocate, a former councilman that had retired, but she still championed this particular thing. And enough of the council. It got switched from one particular party to another particular party. You can imagine what that is. I will get too deep in politics, but that's why local politics do actually matter. The council changed and new blood got in there, and now we are going to be one of the first counties that will require 50% of housing to be universally accessible. We even got the Maryland Builders Association support. I interviewed him in my episode so you can watch that. So legislation is certainly possible. You were talking, though, about how it's all about the dollars for them, and so, as a realtor, I like to dive into that a little bit more. So how do you show them the money? How do you make that pitch?

Lamont McLeod: 22:39

The interesting thing is, we travel as well.

Angela Fox : 22:43

Okay.

Lamont McLeod: 22:43

Again, we love nice homes, we love nice cars, so it's really just looking at where we spend our dollars as well. Everything is about data and analytics. So if you look at our community and the things that we do and what we spend our money on, again, if they just really took a deep dive into the disability community, they will see that these homes will probably be the first to settle.

Angela Fox : 23:09

Yeah, Now when you say deep dive, where could you direct individuals to do that deep dive?

Lamont McLeod: 23:16

Honestly, I'm really not sure.

Lamont McLeod: 23:19

First thing that popped in my mind is how they do the census, whether they're going to the home and they do census reports. So I'm thinking something along the lines of that is how they can start looking into the sector of the disability community to see what type of finances are available, just like they have homes that are available for the 55 and plus community, but you don't see any 55 plus community homes that are ADA accessible or ADA compliant, which is really odd to me for that demographic and that age of people. So I think that they can do something similar to that because, again, we have money we can purchase, we have purchasing power. It's just not an avenue on which I think. Once that first builder and what kudos to what is taking place in your area. That is trendsetting and I would love for Georgia to piggyback on that because, again, if one builder takes their chance and then advocates for to, to or pitch to other builders, I think that it'll be a totally different conversation that we will have during the next time that we met.

Angela Fox : 24:32

How likely. So, like I know myself because I'm a data girl and I know I have struggled just to really get a good number on disability homeownership. Because when I look at some of the surveys that are out there which is not a lot what they do, what I call this a great and voodoo economics. What they do is they look at the senior population and see how many seniors in population own a home. There's all kinds of surveys. That's been a very big document, I'm sure that's real. They're even picking up second homes now the baby boomers.

Angela Fox : 25:15

They're gobbling up real estate right now and then so they take, okay, how many seniors own a home, and then they use the Census Bureau to find how many individuals are disabled, who are senior citizens, and they do that ratio. That's how, that's the messaging, that's the data that is being produced. And it's alarming to me because you're just looking at seniors and while seniors are one of the largest sub-demographics within a distant community, you still have 95% of individuals that become disabled after their 27th birthday. How really do you think that champion housing developer who happens to have those universally designed layouts for new development, how really are they able to share the data on that? Because I feel like even when you get champions other than telling the story, it's still about showing you the money, and that's not really being relayed, from my experience.

Lamont McLeod: 26:30

I feel again, if there was one developer that would take that chance, then again everyone would start to look at what the blueprint that he set forth. And once they look at the blueprint and they see how those homes sell and they see the price point in which they move, I think it'll be just like everything else Others will begin to jump on board, all of the larger builders will begin to jump on board and then it'll be something that will spread like wildfire, which is beautiful for us, but it's wow. It took this long, because I'm always again, I advocate for my disability community. I always say I'm the voice for the voiceless. So I really want to try to bridge that gap and say look, if just one builder would take that chance, you will see the buying power of the disability community.

Angela Fox : 27:24

Speaking of being a voice for the voiceless, I want to hear your voice a little bit more Meaning. Tell me your story, how you became a realtor.

Lamont McLeod: 27:33

Interestingly enough, I've been in real estate since 2004. And an interesting story on my real estate journey is I was in college for accounting. In my senior year in college I was like you know what, I am not a cubicle guy. I realized that I did not want to and no, not to my cubicle community. I love you all. I just understood that was not the path for Lamont. And when I decided to go into real estate, I knew again, senior year getting closer to graduation, I said you know what, I'm going to pivot and that's what I did. So I knew that I could not go home and tell my parents that I dropped out of school. I closed my first deal. I took the commission check to North Carolina and I said hey, y'all look at this Also, I dropped out of college. So, as you can imagine, it was a very interesting conversation. I did not think that I was going to make it, but thank God I am still here and my father was like you know what, Give him a chance, let's just see how this turns out.

Lamont McLeod: 28:37

And fast forward 2010,. I was in a car accident To actually heading to my son, now 13 years old. I was heading to his last sonogram. His mother was six months pregnant with him in the hydroplane on Georgia 400 here in Atlanta. And, truthfully, I did not know what my life was going to be after that point, because at that time all three of my children, my daughters my oldest was almost four. My baby girl was 11 months old, one week shy, then one years old and, like I said, now I have a baby boy. So every father dreams of playing with their children. That's the fun, crazy, exciting dad. That's what I always look forward to.

Lamont McLeod: 29:25

And when the car accident happened, all I kept thinking about was wow, how is my relationship going to be with my children? I can't throw the football, I can't cheer with my daughters. A lot is going to change. So I was thankful. I actually shot away from a lot of opportunities with my oldest daughter. It was always something going on at school donuts with dad, something with dad. So I was thankful that my father would go with my oldest daughter, because with her she didn't mind who came, as long as a family member showed up. But with my baby girl, when she got caught in love and had these same experiences, she said Dad, I want you to come. So I was like, oh my God and I was terrified, because the last thing that I wanted was because kids and people that drink are the most honest, brutal people in the world.

Angela Fox : 30:20

Yes, they are, yes, they are.

Lamont McLeod: 30:22

So I was terrified. I was like, oh my God, if this goes on, then my kids are going to be picked on for their entire school career. But when I went down the hallway and turned in the room to my daughter's classroom, this little boy said oh my God, whose father is that? My grandfather has a cool wheelchair like that. He always takes me for a ride. I dropped my head and I was so excited that. And every next thing I know everybody ran around all the friends like who's that that?

Lamont McLeod: 30:54

and my daughter said that's my father yep a heart literally almost fell out of my chest and I stepped away from those estate for a few years after that because, again so confused. What was the direction? How would the world perceive me trying to sell real estate from a chair? But life events happened. I ended up getting a divorce and at that time it was like are you going to stay on the system or are you going to step up and work and fortunate? Stay on the system. Or are you going to step up and work and, fortunate?

Lamont McLeod: 31:29

In this situation, my babies didn't care about a wheelchair, they liked Nikes. So I said you know what I'm going to have to go back to work. And same scenario. I was so apprehensive about that very first client that I took. But what I did is I did so much work up front, the research of the house, making sure that every need was met in their checklist, and so when I met them, they were like oh my God, I had no idea that you were in a wheelchair. And I said I did not want to proceed with hey, I'm in a wheelchair because I didn't want to give you an out, to not give me an opportunity to at least see what I'm capable of doing so when they met me and they were wild at the work that I already done, and then we closed that deal. The rest has been history. Even from the chair, I was a multimillion dollar producer.

Angela Fox : 32:31

Learn how he became a multi-million dollar realtor in our next episode, part two. Environmentalhousescom is the hub for all things related to disability home ownership. You will find my blog, this podcast, my book and how my consulting services can help real estate agents or housing developers market and tap into the largest minority group, the disability community. Please help me continue this exploration of disability home ownership by connecting through my Facebook page. Remember, sharing our collective experiences will allow us each to lower the kitchen sink but raise the bar for disability home ownership. Thank you so much and let's expand the realtor experience to everyone. Thank you.