For Jarriel Jordan Jr., ’18, being a real estate agent isn’t too different from playing starting cornerback for the Richmond football team. 

“You learn plays,” he says. “You have to practice and practice until it’s automatic and consistent and you know exactly what to do and when to do it.” Jordan has created some winning plays of his own since earning his real estate agent license in August 2018. He’s building his brand on social media, in part by setting real estate basics like debt-to-income ratios, down payments, and closing costs to a beat in concise and catchy TikTok videos.

Those moves plus word-of-mouth referrals have caught the attention of his target demographic: first-time homebuyers in Prince George’s County, Maryland, the most affluent African American-majority county in the United States. “I love helping people my age in my area learn everything about the homebuying process and go from point A to point Z with less stress,” says Jordan, whose sales totaled more than $9 million in 2021. 

Jordan earned a 2019 Rookie of the Year Award from the brokerage where he cut his teeth, Exit Landmark Realty. He now works as an agent for the Home Team Realty Group, an independent brokerage founded by his mother, Wyevetra Jordan, a veteran real estate agent, in the community where he grew up. “It’s great to have her mentorship,” he says. 

Her guidance has been especially valuable given the pandemic-fueled buying frenzy that has rocked the real estate market the past two years. Jordan has drawn on yet another skill from his college athletic days — the ability to fight through adversity — to calmly and confidently shepherd his clients through the extremely trying market to complete the biggest purchase of their lives. “There are challenges,” he says, “but they’re all worth it in the end when our clients get their keys.”